Featured Athlete of the Week: Ang Dun Yang

With his recent stellar achievement of obtaining the gold medal in the last Wushu Individuals Championship, Dunyang has been talent spotted to be interviewed as our Athlete of the week to be featured on HC Unite! Read on to find out more on this budding athlete through a mini email interview conducted. :)

1) How did your interest in wushu begin? What ignited your passion for it?

Seniors! When I was in high school, I joined Wushu half-heartedly (actually I joined cause my friend was interested...), but I soon realised that it's really fun, cause the seniors in high school were really cool and they made training very enjoyable (and tough). I would always remember the times when they executed their jumps and flouted their flexibility :) It inspired me to train harder and to someday reach their level of competence.

2) How do you prepare for wushu competitions?

As the competition nears, I would usually start doing checks on the more difficult movements of my competition routine, to ensure that I would be able to nab the landings of the jumps confidently and not panic one day before competition... Also, as Wushu is a demonstration sport, what most of us would do is to video ourselves or to ask our teammates to look at our routines. This way, we would be able to help each other spot mistakes and to correct our postures for each other.

3) Your results- Gold Medal for Wushu Individuals Championship- is indeed commendable! How do you balance your academic commitments, and pursuit for excellence in wushu? Share with us your secret in doing so! : D

Thank you! But I think I can't answer this question, cause I can't say that my results are anywhere near terrific... :P Anyways, during competition period, I would just prioritize and hand in important work, otherwise I would just inform the teachers, to avoid their wrath...

4) I'm sure your journey thus far must have been a tough one. Were there any downturns you faced at any point? If so, how did you overcome it?

Considering what my teammates have gone through, I think my setbacks were pretty minor. The most significant being minor muscle injuries that lasted for weeks. Hence, I think I'm rather fortunate and I cherish that a lot :)

5) Any words to aspiring wushu athletes out there? :D

The initial training is tough and dry, but don give up! Keep an open mind, perfect the techniques and soon you'll understand why we love Wushu so much :D

6) Last but not least, are you still single and available? :)))

This is a very sensitive question, but if I don answer people will say I'm scheming, so I'll say I'm single...