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Athletes from the Vilcu's Academy of Martial Arts were part of Team Canada's entry at the World Martial Arts Championship in Las Vegas, Nevada, from Sept. 17-19.
"To qualify as members of Team Canada, the athletes had to finish first in a number of qualifying tournaments," said sensei Harold Vilcu. "Especially for our smaller club, it was an amazing achievement to have five members on the team."
There were approximately 500 athletes entered in the competitions, with athletes separated into different divisions based on their separate forms, and then classified on their age, experience, gender and belt colour.
At the world competition, Staci Baker won gold in forms and weapons forms, silver in continuous sparring and bronze in points sparring. Isaac Vilcu won gold in continuous sparring and team continuous sparring, silver in points sparring and bronze in team points sparring. Dean Bachorik won gold in forms and continuous sparring and silver in points sparring.
The two youngest members from Vilcu's on Team Canada were seven-year-old Jay Boll and nine-year-old Yang Yang Zhang. "Jay has been taking classes for one year, while Yang Yang has been active for six months," said Vilcu.
Boll won gold in continuous sparring and bronze in points sparring and team forms; and Zhang won silver in points sparring and bronze in team forms.
These Vilcu athletes will be training for the Pan Am Games of martial arts, which will be hosted in Regina, and preparing to represent Team Canada in Geneva, Switzerland in 2012.
