INTI College Sarawak Web Site

Chong Wei Li’s passion in ancient Chinese martial art wushu has brought glory to the state of Sarawak. Specialising in two weapons, the sword and spear, Wei Li helped this year’s Sarawak’s SUKMA team add its medal tally by winning a gold medal in jian shu or handling of the sword. In 2004, he assisted the State to bring home the SUKMA gold medal in the handling of the spear or qiang shu.

His achievements in this sport have not gone unnoticed at INTI College Sarawak where he is pursuing the Diploma in Architecture. He has been awarded the Sport Scholarship consisting of a half tuition fee waiver for the programme in line with the College’s mission of providing holistic education.

Wei Li’s passion in wushu was ignited when he was trained as a 14-year-old under the style of Tang Soo Doo, a Korean version of karate. His coach at that time also taught wushu and he quickly noticed the young lad’s potential in wushu.

Wei Li agreed and quickly chose the weapons that appealed to him and the training went underway.

The road to success for Wei Li is not easy. He said: “ I have to train hard under my China coach for each category every day with one session in the morning and another one in the afternoon. Each session lasts for 2 hours.” Despite these rigorous training sessions, Wei Li scored 2As and IB in last semester’s final examinations.

When asked how he managed to juggle his life as a student and the training sessions, Wei Li disclosed: “I make sure I read my books or do my assignments before my training. After that, I am usually dead tired and need to rest.”

The 21-year-old’s daily training routine consists of warm-up sessions, practicing wushu movements and as well as jumping. “Jumping scores a lot of marks in competition, especially if one jumps well,” he explained. “This also keeps me fit.”

Contracting injuries several times has not deterred Wei Li from practicing wushu. His first taste of injuries occurred just four years ago when he landed wrongly. His ankles and arms were injured due to the fast movements.

Quickly pointing out that though the weapons he used in this sport were blunt, they were still capable of causing cuts due to the vigorous movements. He showed the several wounds that have been inflicted on his body as a result of his love for the sport.

As the saying goes, no pain no gain. Indeed, Wei Li’s painful love affair with wushu has brought many gains in his life, much more than he can ever hope for.