Western Cape youth are kung fu fighting their way to victory
“The Chinese words ‘kung fu’ translate more or less as ‘a man hard at work over a long time’. Someone who’s been working hard for a long time to hone his skills is a friend of Smile Breakfast, Cape Town Born, M.J.Li.
M.J. visited the studio last year to do a Taichi demonstration, and left the tem completely in awe of his highly skilled moves. This year, M.J has lots to smile about. He successfully led the first ever S.A Youth Development Kung fu Squad to Hong Kong for an International Tournament in MaOnShan.
18 athletes from across The Province and South Africa competed at the tournament from the 16th to the 19th of March along with 9 000 athletes from around 52 countries. This squad made history as the first ever Youth Kungfu Squad to go to Hong Kong and now return successfully with 7 medals!
One particularly special achievement was 10-year-old Saifullah who won gold in his beginner’s division. Saifullah was the only disabled junior athlete to compete at the tournament against able bodied athletes.
M.J also competed in The Professional Athletes Taichi Division and took first place. This included a division that comprised of highly skilled and ranked Asian and South East Asian Athletes. This is testament to M.J’s dedication and level of
skill. He currently holds the title of Three Times Gold Medallist and Legends of Kung fu Champion.
M.J.Li is now preparing for The 2018 Legends of Kung fu World Martial Arts Championship taking place in Tianjin, China in August this year and we wish him the very best of luck.
