Wushu is a Chinese martial art regularly featured at Asian Games and the Southeast Asian Games. (Photo : Wikipedia)
The Chinese traditional sports Wushu gets another chance to bid for inclusion in the 2020 Olympics, as announced by Tokyo organizers on Friday.
It was after the sport missed out on the International Olympic Committee's first shortlist of three competing sports, with wrestling winning the bid.
The International Wushu Federation (IWUF) has been competing hard in the last few years to have Wushu in the Olympic games. It is one of the federations that hope to have their sports in the program.
"Wushu is gaining popularity all over the world. We are very serious to see this sport at Olympics," said IWUF executive board member Ang Mong Seng. The IWUF executive said that the sport is being practiced not only in its place of origin, China, but also in many other countries.
IWUF executive vice president Anthony Goh agreed, saying that the Chinese martial arts needed to expand its reach. The IOC eventually gives Wushu a second chance to apply for the Tokyo Olympics.
"We have to undertake another bidding process," said Goh.
"We need to develop regions where Wushu is less developed. We have to feature more often in multi-international games, like the African Games and the Pan American Games," added Goh.
To date, Wushu is included in the Nanjing Youth Olympic Games.
"Hopefully, we will see Wushu at 2020 Olympics," said Seng.
Toshiro Muto, chief executive officer of the Tokyo organizing committee, said that there are three criteria in deciding which sports will be chosen.
"They must be popular with young people, give momentum to Tokyo 2020 and meet IOC standards," said the official.
The entire list of prospective sports in the next Olympics are air sports, American football, baseball-softball, bowling, bowls, bridge, chess, dance sport, floorball, flying disc, karate, korfball, netball, orienteering, polo, racquetball, roller sports, sport climbing, squash, sumo, surfing, tug of war, underwater, wakeboard, waterski and Wushu.
Tokyo will announce a shortlist of candidates on June 22, while the IOC will have the final decision in Aug. 2016.
