KUALA LUMPUR, Mar 26 (Sin Chew Daily) — Wushu, or Chinese martial arts, is evolving to keep up with the times in the internet era.

Malaysian Wushu Federation (MWF) president Datuk Chong Kim Fatt reveals that a WUSHUTV is in the pipeline. 

"Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, I realized that wushu had reached a bottleneck in Malaysia. We needed to catch up with the digital and internet era. The pandemic reinforced my thought. We set up the WUSHUTV with some companies. The platform will feature videos of local and oversea tournaments. We also plan to film wushu with directors from Malaysia, China and Hong Kong.

"We are offering wushu exponents a platform to have a clear direction. The videos of top three winners of national competition will also be uploaded on WUSHUTV," he told Sin Chew Daily.

Apart from WUSHUTV, Chong said wushu app would also be launched as part of MWF's future plans.

To prepare for the Youth Olympics 2026, Chong said the national junior wushu championship to be held in May would be a virtual championship under the new normal.

Wushu exponents are to submit their videos to MWF by May 31 and judges will watch the videos to rate them in early June.

The virtual championship is organized by MWF, assisted by Negeri Sembilan Wushu Association with the support from the Ministry of Education.

Exponents participating in the championship will gain scores for extracurricular activities at school.

MWF has not organized any tournament since the implementation of movement control order due to the COVID-19 outbreak last year.

Chong said the number of exponents dropped drastically in most states since the COVID-19 outbreak last year. Wushu exponents would experience a gap for two years without tournaments.

On the live telecast of wushu competitions, Chong said, "Internet speed is an issue. We are afraid of network disruption. Our aim of organizing the tournament is to revive interest in wushu," he said.

On wushu exponents submitting their best videos for the competition, Chong said, "I have confidence in the children who learn wushu. We accept their best submitted videos. This is a special situation and we are not making a fuss," he added.

"The health of coaches and exponents is more important. We are unable to see wushu remain inactive. The wushu event in Youth Olympics 2026 is important to us. We hope to fly Jalur Gemilang for Malaysia again," he said.

Despite the fact MWF encountered technical and network issues in organizing the virtual championship, Chong said the Ministry of Education had shown its full support for the championship. We have received positive feedback from the Ministry of Education.

Judges would be viewing the videos submitted by exponents in live telecast sessions witnessed by the exponents, he said.