Xiwen Yeoh --- Her Time: Intervarsity Wushu Competition 2013

This was the most exciting event of all for the last semester (but yet, I posted it in 2014, oh procrastination), the Intervarsity (Inter-university) Wushu Competition 2013 which was held in University Science Malaysia Health Campus in Kelantan. I had never taken part in such a big wushu competition before which involved many universities from all over the countries including UTM, MMU, USM Penang Campus and the list went on. To get ourselves ready for this competition, we started training two months earlier. I would like to thank my friend, Richie for telling me about the competition. I began attending wushu activity because of event, haha. As I was in Wushu Club before during my high school time, I could skip the tough work of memorizing and getting used to the pattern or else I would not be able to make it within two-month time. The wushu I learnt before is not the same as this one. In the past, complexity and uniformity were not the priority in my performance. But this one, I admit that I had a very difficult time to work on my stamina, flexibility, speed and strength. Thanks to our coaches who willingly spent their time training us to bring out our best.

Our team going to Kelantan consisted of one coach, 16 participants and one very dedicated supporter a.k.a. cheerleader (hahaha). The journey going to Kelantan from our university was a tedious one. We were packed into a mini bus with our luggages and weapons for a about 10 hours journey. And the condition of bus was quite bad that it was impossible for us to get a good night sleep there. So we spent our time playing games until late at night in the 'unstable' condition.

Our bus on the left. Compared to other buses, it's cute, right? Haha.

Finally we reached Kelantan!

To be safe, we departed on Thursday night as the competition was held for two days, Saturday and Sunday. We reached USM early in the Friday morning at around 7am where the university compound was quiet and empty. While waiting for the organizers to reach here, it's photo shooting time!!! (YAY)

(credit to Pei Wu and Kharyee)

This is called 站桩, one of the basic training in taiji. We had been standing like this for only 5 minutes and it's killing our legs!! (credit to coach Chai and Kharyee)

Our first breakfast there - roti cotek, exclusive in Kelantan! It's actually roti canai with a soft-boiled egg placed in the middle, flooded with curry. It was damn nice man! Luckily my stomach was strong enough to handle this.

After seeing the schedule for the competition, I was so speechless. I took part in 'girls traditional long weapon' only which was held in Sunday morning, which meant that I would be free for the whole Saturday, being a full-time supporter like Pei Wu (haha). It's not a really good thing as I have to carry the stress until the next day when there were only four of us taking part in the competition (and the rest became supporters, haha).

This was where the competition was held. First of all we had to get used to the carpeted floor and the air-conditioned surrounding.

All the best, guys! (credit to Pei Wu and Kharyee)

This was the first day of the competition. We stayed in a nice hotel near the university and bus was provided to send us there. (credit to Kharyee)

Celebration in McD after the first day of competition. Cheese~

There were only four of us who could not have cold drinks and ice creams. Boohoo...

Those who had finished their competition. See what are they doing? Ugh...

The competition ended well. Our team obtained four gold, five silvers and three bronze in total and the first runner up in overall just like last time. Credit to Kharyee for photos below. We turned our jackets inside out as celebration. Love this jacket very much, going to wear it to class starting next semester! ^ ^

This photo was taken by me on the second morning of the competition in front of the hotel while waiting for the bus. Haha. Our tired cheerleader.

I placed most of my passions in Wushu at the near-end of last semester. It's not because I love Wushu so much, but you guys, my teammates, had given me motivation and inspiration to carry on. We really had lots of fun for the last semester. I feel like home again. To end this post, I present the participants representing UPM here (once again, credit to Kharyee for the nice photos).