The National Martial Arts Championships 2022 that came to Thunder Bay at the end of July was a resounding success!
Sanda included fighters from many different Kungfu & Taiji schools.
Taolu featured amazing High Performance competitions for National team positions as well as Recreational competition for all ages.
On Friday evening, July 29 there was a Showcase Gala that had Kungfu Masters & Champions (including our own Master Peng You doing a fan demo) from across the country entertaining and amazing the crowd.
Thunder Bay’s Martial Arts Council participated with demos by:
Cook’s Martial Arts (Karate)
Superior Hema (Historical European Sword fighting)
Peng You Academy TJ Hockeystick
Sat and Sun were full days featuring Sanda fighting and Taolu high performance routines – fast and powerful, leaping, spinning and kicking Kungfu with & without various intimidating weapons.
Our local Peng You Taichi students competed in the Tai Chi recreational level events.
The team of Brian Nieminen, Art Stranges, Jeff Vaillant and Charlie Faust performed the Chen 49 Sword routine and won silver medals.
Nieminen & Vaillant did 3 more routines each winning 2 silvers and a bronze.
This spectacular event attracted participants and fans from all across Canada in both performance and combat based martial arts.
It marks the first time the National Championships has taken place in Northern Ontario. Recognized as an Olympic Sport, Wushu is popularized through film and television by Hollywood action stars Jet Li, Jackie Chan and Donnie Yen. A key component to winning the bid to host the event, was the fact that Thunder Bay is home to a large demographic of Tai Chi practitioners who utilize the martial arts for health and recreational benefits.
“It says a lot about Thunder Bay that WushuOntario chose this city to be their host; we are thrilled and looking forward to the summer event,” said Eileen Fauster, President of WushuOntario before the event. “It’s about time we brought the event to other regions of Ontario with the opportunity to showcase our sport and to enjoy the diversity of the Provincial landscape.”
Thunder Bay April 03, 2022 – The City of Thunder Bay with support of the City’s CEDC (Community Economic Development Corporation) is bringing for the first time a martial arts event of this stature to the city. The 2022 Canadian National Martial Arts Championships & Festival will be held this summer in Thunder Bay from July 28-31 hosted by WushuOntario and supported by the Ontario Ministry of Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Culture Industries.
The event will feature some of the best athletes in the country competing in the Martial Art of WUSHU-Kung Fu to represent Canada in International competitions for the 2022-2023 calendar year. The festival component will also feature a Kung Fu Master’s Performance Gala highlighting the kick off to the weekend event. This will be a spectacular event which will attract participants and fans from all across Canada in both performance and combative based martial arts.