Wushu Notes

G.L. Watson, a supporter of the WKF Board of Directors has organized a fundraising drive to help defray the burden of the legal fees in its goal of resolving the WKF leadership issue in a court of law (something that we really should be finishing up ASAP, Worlds is creeping up quickly).

The information can be found here -

REQUEST FOR DONATIONS FOR THE USAWKF LEGAL FUND

There is some interesting information on the steps the Board is currently taking. I encourage everyone to review the information made available thus far and then make an informed decision.

Also I wanted to share this information. I was sent a copy of the letter that the organizers of the World Games sent to the WKF Board of Directors recently -

Page 1
Page 2

Interesting, but Board President Jeff Bolt has already discussed this letter in this message he wrote on the usawkf.com message board. The key section being -

I also received a letter from Armenia claiming they recognize Goh’s team. Not surprising since they have not yet received any different instructions from the IWUF. It’s my guess that Goh orchestrated the letter since the author has been to Goh’s event in Baltimore... need I say more. We expected a letter like this also. We expect the IWUF to inform Armenia about the "official" team from the U.S. once we prove our case to the IWUF. We expect Goh will probably post this letter and claim victory. Armenia also cannot choose sides so this letter can be overturned by the IWUF.

I would likewise post information from the other side of the story, but no information is being put out by Mr. Goh or his supporters at this time. Or as Sean Marshall put it, Goh doesn't have time to waste talking to people like us! :P

http://www.eagocweb.com/sports_e/wushu.html - In English
http://www.eagocweb.com/sports/wushu.html - In Japanese (with some articles)

Taijiquan Men
 ZHAO, SHUNXIN 9.450P CHINA 
 CHAN Ming-Shu 9.350P JAPAN
 YANG, SEONG-CHAN 9.300P TAIAWN (tie)
 WATANABE, Toshiya 9.300P JAPAN (tie)
 
Changquan Three Events Combined Men 
 YUAN, XINDONG 28.580P CHINA
 PARK, CHAN-DEA 28.040P KOREA
 NG, WA LOI 27.770P HK
 
Changquan Three Events Combined Women   
 HAN, JING 28.060P MACAU 
 LO, Nga Ching 27.860P HK 
 CHONG, SAO LAN 27.810P MACAU 
 
Taijiquan Women
 LI, Fai 9.410P HK 
 AKAZAWA, Emi 9.330P JAPAN 
 WU, I-CHI 9.260P TAIWAN
 
Nanquan Women
 HUANG, CHUNNI 9.510P CHINA 
 TAKEDA, Sachiko 9.270P JAPAN  
 TSANG, Angie 9.260P HK 
 
Nanquan Men Final  
 CHEN, SHUAI 9.480P CHINA
 KIM, YONG-JE 9.330P KOREA
 LIU, Chun-wei 9.310P TAIWAN 

OOh, just found some video coverage of the competition! Including some of the routines. In real video format, broadband connection better - http://202.224.168.221/eag/movie/G302_99WUe.html. Check it out! I've only looked at one video so far, but it looks like old compulsory for Changquan at least.

With present of International martial arts Federation of the deaf let to know your IJF for any important event also like to invite you !

If possible your Homepage will put up it to inform all world in Wushu or Kung Fu to be favoreble opening for disabeld not hearing.

With big pleased to welcome for all if have your deaf Wushu athlets will interest to partecipate it that you may take to contact us as soon as possible, thanks in advance.

PLEASE you click to read this important NEWS-IMAFD organization will show the program of the 11th World Judo, Karatedo, taekwondo and Wushu/Kung-Fu Championships for deaf and Hoh will held in Ostia Beach (Rome) Italy on days 16-21 July 2001 is follow to read on Internet page :

http://www.mclink.it/personal/MD4281/wjktwc_2001.htm - you have nice time! Our waiting to be available your need any information and question.

With best wishes and regards .

Francesco Faraone
Responsable organizer of Italy 2001
Email : f.faraone@mclink.it or IMAFD@earthling.net
Fax : +39-6-6555161 (myself) or +39-6-636225 (FISS)

Lastly, results from the Qualifiers for the 9th All China Games are now online - http://www.sport.gov.mo/2001/en/NationalGamesWushu/index.phtml - check it out.

A word from Cung Le:

As the three time Captain of the US National Team and pioneer of the Sanshou style of Martial Arts fighting in this country, for nearly 5 years I have fostered the dream of presenting the ultimate amateur Sanshou Fight Tournament. A tournament that was true to the practice of martial arts fight techniques. Where young martial artists from around the world who train in all fight styles would come together once a year to learn, grow and compete against the best amateur fighters.

My dream of giving back to the sport and to nurture the growth of young martial artists is now a reality. On July 21st at West Valley College in San Jose, California the first annual "BORN TO FIGHT" Cung Le Sanshou Shootout will be held.

The Sanshou Shootout will be divided into two segments. The Day Segment will be an open tournament sanctioned by the newly formed USA Sanshou Federation. To encourage the development of future champions there will be a Children’s and Juniors Division, a beginners division (with no head contract), as well as intermediate and advanced Sanshou divisions.

The Night Segment will be a grand event never seen before in the amateur ranks - we call it Super Fight Night. On this night many of our country’s top amateur fighters will compete in the ring for National Titles. The fights will be sanctioned by the IKF (International Kickboxing Federation) and will be a treat for those who desire to see future world champions in action. To cap off the evening, I will give an exciting exhibition of world class Sanshou with this year’s captain of the US National Team and current Middleweight Champion - Rudi Ott.

To add to what promises to be a truly awesome event, Martial Arts Superstars Frank Shamrock and Bob Wall of Enter the Dragon Fame, will grace us with their presence. I would also like to extend a personal "Thank You" to my fellow founding members at World Black Belt.Com for their support.

I look forward to seeing you at the "BORN TO FIGHT" Cung Le Sanshou Shootout!

Thank You,

Cung Le

BORN TO FIGHT
SANSHOU SHOOTOUT
JULY 21st
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA
AT WEST VALLEY COLLEGE

TOURNAMENT: 10:00am - 5:00pm
Point Fighting
Advanced Sanshou Division
Beginners Sanshou Division
Modified Sanshou Division
Jr. Sanshou Division
Children's Sanshou Division

SUPER FIGHTS: 7:00pm - 10:00pm
10 IKF TITLE FIGHTS

SPECIAL EXHIBITION FIGHT
CUNG LE vs RUDI OTT
CUNG LE vs RUDI OTT

SPECIAL GUESTS
FRANK SHAMROCK
BOB WALL

FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO REGISTER FOR THE TOURNAMENT CALL USH!
ENTERTAINMENT
AT (408) 729-4900 OR
EMAIL CUNGLE@CUNGLE.COM

Please feel fee to repost this message, tell friends, or post it on your own site thank you.

Nothing has been said to change my view of the event, in fact even more inconsistencies in the scoring has been brought up (as much as 0.8 difference between the high and low judge in one case) and much discussion of whether the tournament followed the IWuF rules it claimed to have.

But nothing will probably change the minds of those who believe the judging was entirely fair. But to date, no one has given sufficient defense or justification for the following:

1. Poor Selection Criterion

2. Conflict of interest between event organizer, technical judge and coach of majority of athletes involved

3. No video taping policy. Seriously hindering athletes ability to exercise their right to challenge the judge's decisions (as provided by the IWuF competition rules)

At this point (one week later), no results have been posted on the Goh website, nor any information been made available about the official video tapes that were made by the trials staff.

The key issue to remember is that one way or another, only one team (this Baltimore selected team, or the Berkeley trials selected team) will be allowed to represent the US at the World Games, which is a shame, as there are good athletes on both teams who deserve to be there.

And in case you missed it, I put the second volume of my pictures from my trip to China this past winter. Click here to check it out.

First let me start off pointing out that I have had a strong dislike for the selection criterion adopted for this event. Please scroll down to my 3/29/01 entry to read why I thought they were going to be bad. Almost every concern raised then has been realized now.

I've already gotten a number of email and messages from people expressing very negative opinions of the judging for the event. This all seems to center around the fact that Lu Xiaoling's students seemed to be getting an almost automatic increase in their score. Furthermore one spectator pointed out a wide range in the scores given out by judges (at least 0.6 in one case between the 5 scores).

As we all know, judging is critical in events like this, and in this case the scoring seems to have been a bit skewed for certain competitors. But how about proof? Well we hope that the scores will actually be put on the web, but given Mr. Goh's track record, I wouldn't be holding my breath.

But more importantly, video tape would be the perfect way to prove how well (or poorly) judged the event was and how accurate (or inaccurate) the scores given were. But alas, thats impossible. In an apparent bid to make a buck off the event (in addition to the $85 reg fee), professional videographers were brought in, and spectactors and competitors were forbidden to video tape anything. This is a big issue for an event like team trials, as it removes a competitor's ability to instantly review an event and use the tape as evidence if they demand arbitration. To remove video taping removes a competitor's ability to exercise their rights of arbitration as allowed under the IWuF competition rules. Simply unacceptible for an event of this importance.

OK, now that I've gotten that off my chest, here are the results that I've been given for the event -

Baltimore Team Trials Results -

Men - 
1. Justin Ma 27.82*
2. An Nguyen 27.70*
3. Phillip Chen 27.56
4. Rizqi Rackman 27.33*

5. Rory Bratter 27.32
6. Ted Fu 27.13*
7. Joe Scarcella 27.02
8. Mike Tran 26.65*

Women - 
1. Anita Lopez 27.56*
2. Clara Shen 27.20*
3. Sarah Chang 27.08
4. Jessica Zhang 26.82*

5. Felicia Zhang 26.43*
6. Rosa Huang 26.39
7. Cheryl Chang 25.89

* denotes student of Lu Xiaoling 

I've met or at least seen most of these competitors in the past, some of them /are/ very good, definitely would have made the team this time, but the fact that the integrity of this whole event is so questionable casts a shadow of suspicion over everything.

If anyone has any corrections or more information on the trials (either good or bad), please email me or post it up on the message board.

(in cases of tied scores, tie break might be incorrect)

Men:

Taijiquan -
1. Brandon - 9.10
2. Peter - 9.05
3. Ken - 8.91

Taijijian -
1. Brandon - 9.10
2. Ken - 8.86
3. Peter - 8.68

Nanquan - 
1. Phillip - 9.06
2. Joe - 9.05
3. Jonathan - 8.75
4. David - 8.73
5. Rob - 8.75

Changquan -
1. Rory - 9.10
2. Arthur - 8.98
3. Eddy - 8.91
4. Richie - 8.86
5. Holman - 8.83
6. Matt E - 8.80
7. Alfred - 8.80
8. Jerry T - 8.75
9. Rolando - 8.70
10. Steven - 8.70
11. Miko - 8.63
12. Jose - 8.46
13. Anthony - 8.40

Nandao -
1. Joe - 9.08
2. Phillip - 9.01
3. David - 8.75

Broadsword - 
1. Arthur - 9.03
2. Rory - 9.01
3. Matt E - 8.96
4. Richie - 8.95
5. Eddy - 8.86
6. Steven - 8.80
7. Miko - 8.80
8. Rolando - 8.68
9. Jerry T - 8.63
10. Jose - 8.60

Straightsword - 
1. Nathan - 9.10
2. Justin - 9.00
3. Alfred - 8.80
4. Holman - 8.76
5. Anthony - 8.71

Nangun - 
1. Phillip - 9.06
2. David - 8.78

Spear - 
1. Justin - 9.03
2. Brandon - 8.70
3. Anthony - 8.65
4. Miko - 8.65 

Staff - 
1. Nathan - 9.16
2. Arthur - 9.06
3. Rory - 9.03
4. Eddy - 8.98
5. Rolondo - 8.80
6. Joe - 8.78
7. Richie - 8.71 (broke staff)


Women:

Taijiquan -
1. Tina - 8.98

Changquan - 
1. Felicia - 9.03
2. Cherie H - 9.01
3. Sarah C - 8.90
4. Cheryl C - 8.85
5. Rosa - 8.75
6. Jennifer H - 8.70
7. Michelle - 8.66
8. Stephanie 8.63

Broadsword 
1. Jennifer H - 9.?
2. Rosa - 8.65

Straightsword
1. Felicia - 9.06
2. Cheri H - 8.93
3. Sarah C - 8.90
4. Cheryl C - 8.80
5. Tina - 8.71
6. Michelle - 8.66

Spear
1. Sarah C - 8.95 
2. Cheryl C - 8.85
3. Tina - 8.80
4. Rosa - 8.78
5. Cheri H. - 8.7?

Staff 
1. Jennifer H. - 8.93
2. Felicia - 8.90 (broke staff)



Team Results - 
Men's:
A Team - 
1. Nathan Tong
2. Brandon Sugiyama
3. Rory Bratter
4. Joe Scarcella
5. Phillip Chen

B Team - 
1. Arthur Chen
2. Justin Ho
3. Peter Wng
4. Matt Emory

C Team - 
1. Ken Glynn
2. Eddy Quintana
3. Richie Brandon
4. Holman Chou

Women's:
A Team - 
1. Felicia Sze
2. Jennifer Haight
3. Cheri Haight

B Team - 
1. Tina Fu
2. Sarah Chang
3. Cheryl Chang
4. Rosa Huang

C Team - 
1. Michelle
2. Stephanie Liu

Congrats to everyone who made the team and everyone who tried out. It was a really good competition, I had a lot of fun watching and trying to figure out how the team was going to turn out.

I especially want to give props to some of the new kids who made their mark, they have several trials ahead of them, so they will definitely be the next wave of US team athletes, if they stick it out.

Also I want to give congrats to the 'old timers' who made the team their second (or 4th) time and a few of the people who finally made it on their second or third try! (perseverence pays off!) The rest of the Berkeley competition went well, abeit a bit slowed down because of the team trials. Everything wrapped up around 8:30 or 9 pm. I don't have much info on the results from the all-around championships, though, if I do find that out, I'll let you know.

OK, enough of that. I'm pretty busy, so sometimes things fall through the cracks. I forgot to publicize Jason's coverage of the New York City 'konkrete jungle b-boy/wushu' comeptition last month. He has video and digital pics up, check it out at

http://www.uswushuteam.com/misc/konkrete/index.html.

Also, last but not least, I wanted to help publicize this seminar by Li Tai Liang:

We're on track for the LTL seminar during the weekend of April 28/29.

    The seminar will last from roughly 9:00am to 6:00pm, both days, and
will be
held in Cupertino, CA.

    The planned material will revolve around 2 man training drills,
ranging from formal pattern drills most likely up to some light contact
free sparring. These will be based on traditional Xingyi 2-man drills, and
from previous experience, will probably revolve around striking your
opponent, and not so much wrestling or pushing them.

    LTL is also very familiar with the modern San Da training methods as
and he is generally very forthcoming in describing the differences between
traditional neijia approaches to engaging the opponent, versus the modern
kickboxing approach. If you are curious about the topic, please make an
effort to attend.

    You should expect this to be an athletic workout, so wear comfortable
athletic clothes. Wear some kind of reasonable atheltic shoes. Bring
water, and lots of enthusiasm. Prior Xingyi experience is not really
necessary, however if you practice Xinyi, you should expect that the body
methods (shen fa) and stepping methods (bu fa) you practice for things
like squatting monkey and the 5 elements will come in handy for these
drills - in other words, work on those basics! The sparring is usually
well controlled, and the only thing that gets hurt is likely to be your
pride :-)
    Expect the material to be practical, but there will probably be more
than you can digest. Bear in mind that what he shows you is material for
you to think about and practice for the next 6 months or so.

    The cost will be $180 if you pay at the door (cash please), or $150
(cash or check) if I receive your payment by April 14. You can send the
check and your contact information to:

 Xingyi Seminar
    PO Box 1061
    Union City, CA 94587


    A brief bio of Li Tai

    Master Li TaiLiang is one of the few Xingyi masters from Mainland
China teaching the the US. He has been a director of combat training for
the Beijing Police Department, professional san shou coach to the Beijing
San Shou team, and has been a san shou coach to the Shaolin Temple monks.
He is originally from Taigu in Shanxi province, historically one of the
centers of Xingyi in China, and early in his martial arts career he was
the All China San Shou Champion.
    As a professional martial arts instructor in China, he has learned or
come up against many of the major styles that are taught within the
government for demonstration or combat. However, his family has a Xingyi
tradition, and he began Xingyi training at the age of 5 years old. Despite
being exposed to any number of styles, he is still first and foremost, a
Xingyi man and teaches it with an eye towards effective usage and carrying
on the heritage of Shanxi Xingyi.
    Li TaiLiang's Xingyi is from the Che Yi-Zhai lineage, as part of his
research into Xingyi, he has added training elements from Dai Family
XinYi, the style that Li LuoNeng orginally learned, and which became the
Xingyi known in Hebei and Shanxi provinces. For people who are interested
in the history of Xingyi, it provides a fascinating glimpse of how this
style evolved. For people who are more practically minded, the training
methods are excellent for internal power development - something for which
Dai Family Xinyi is famous.
    In addition to his Xinyi credentials, he is also an indoor disciple of
Wang RongTong, a Cheng style Bagua master in Beijing who is known for
having trained several full-contact champions. Li TaiLiang's work as a
combat instructor included training the Chinese National Police forces (a
government paramilitary unit), and several of his police students went on
to become personal bodyguards of senior Chinese government officials.
    Li TaiLiang carries on the tradition of practical, professionally
oriented Chinese martial arts by training hobbyists, professional athletes
as well as bodyguards and police.

At the suggestion of some people on the message board, I have decided to make sure that Mr. Anthony Goh is aware of my rebuttle to his memo (again, see the previous entry from last night). I sent a nicely worded email to him (or rather to his webmaster, since he doesn't list an email address anywhere on his website and the it gives the webmaster's address for 'questions or comments'). The following is a copy of the email I sent off today, which I also cced to Jeff Bolt (who is does list is email address):

Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2001 13:05:55 -0700 (PDT)
From: Raffi Roupen Kamalian 
To: usawkf@usawkf.org
Cc: JeffBolt1@aol.com
Subject: Dear Anthony Goh
Parts/attachments:
   1 Shown   47 lines  Text
   2   OK   478 lines  Text, ""
----------------------------------------

As this is the only contact email address provided on the USAWKF.org
website, I have mailed it here hoping to contact Mr. Goh. Please pass this
message along to Mr. Anthony Goh.  Thank you.
-------

To: Mr. Anthony Goh

From: Raffi Kamalian, wushu practicioner/promoter, owner/operator of
        http://www.beijingwushuteam.com wushu website

CC: Mr. Jeff Bolt

Re: Response to 4/14 memo by Anthony Goh released on www.usawkf.org
website.


I was eager to read the letter placed on the www.usawkf.org website on
4/16/01, but upon reading it and reviewing it, I was very dismayed to find
it a very poorly crafted, misleading document. Like all wushu
practicioners, I am eager to find a resolution to the USAWKF situation.
Therefore I was motivated to write a very detailed explanation to my
website audience exactly why I felt this way and how I felt the document
was inaccurate, misleading or otherwise flawed.

In order to make sure that both sides in this situation read this opinion
and emailed it to you both, I have attached a copy of it, in HTML format.
It is also viewable at http://www.beijingwushuteam.com/wushunotes.html as
the 4/17 entry.

I encourage that Mr. Goh reviews my response to see how his words are
being accepted in the community he claims to represent.  My website has
served as an open forum for discussing the WKF situation, and will
continue to do so.

At that point I encourage Mr. Goh to try actually answering some
substantive useful questions about the true situation of the WKF,
something that the 4/14 letter does NOT to.  And Furthermore I encourage
Mr. Goh and Mr. Bolt bring their respective arguments either to mediation
or binding legal authorities to decide. No more releasing legal opinions
to the public, no more selective quotations, no more rubber stamps from
committees you are also the president of, no more pointless memos. 

Thank you for your time.  

[FYI - I competed in debate in high school, and as an engineering PhD student have taught students on technical writing, therefore flaws in logic, unsupported statements, etc REALLY stick out like a sore thumb to me, so therefore I feel that a document like this truly deserves a strong, detailed rebuttle and/or thrashing].

I will number my responses according to the points raised in the original letter by Anthony Goh -

1. IWuF's Secretary General, Mr. Li Jie's April 6th, 2001 letter - Goh's three points derived from the Li Jie letter, which may or may not be taken out of context (as we the public haven't seen the entire thing and Mr. Goh's attachments aren't actually provided at this date despite being cited) do not support his conclusion "The US Team sent by the Anthony Goh, and not Jeff Bolt, will be allowed to participate in the 6th World Wushu Championships" -- correct me if I'm wrong, but the correct conclusion would be that the team sent by the legitimate USAWKF will participate in the World Games. /Who/ the president is in irrelevent, right? (Am I wrong? I was under the impression that the IWuF recognizes the organization, not merely an individual as the governing body of Wushu in America)

Furthermore Goh says the following - "Indeed, it was acknowledged during the Sanya discussions that should Mr. Jeff Bolt take a team to Armenia it will not be recognized and would not be allowed to participate in the 6th WWC." -- does Mr. Goh have a source for this or do we have to take his word for it? Without some sort of proof this statement is utterly without value and should not be included in this letter.

Now let's look at the overall implication of this point. The whole reason why there are two team trials is because of the fight over the leadership of the WKF between Anthony Goh and a portion of the Board of Directors. And Anthony Goh's response (and this is his strongest point in this letter) is that he is president because the IWuF says so. Does the cart lead the horse? If the IWuF said that Chuck Norris was the president of the WKF, does that mean that only the 'team sent by Chuck Norris, will be allowed to participate in the world games'? Obviously not, right? The USAWKF is supposed to be a non-profit corporation with rules and bylaws. the IWuF cannot DICTATE who the president is, if they recognize an organization as the representative of Wushu in America, they have to acknowledge the legal president and abide by the legally selected team. Or am I wrong? Is the WKF a dicatorship that does not have to follow laws? Mr. Goh attempts to refute the legal claims that he has been deposed as president below, I will comment on them further there. But the fundamental question is, does the IWuF recognize the organization or the individual? If Mr. Goh decides to quit the USAWKF and start the Anthony-Goh-Wushu-Kungfu Federation, does he still get to bring a US team to the World Games?

2. Invitations from Armenia, the Organizer of the 6th WWC was received at the Baltimore Headquarters - This argument really has no meaning. First of all the organizers of the games have no authority to pick and chose who to invite and who not to invite, they mail the invitations out to each country based on the address they have recieved from the IWuF. If Anthony Goh was god forbid, struck by lightning, they would still be inviting Anthony Goh because thats the address they were given. My point here is that as he was the president before, until he acknowledges the Boards authority to impeach him or he is legally ordered to stop claiming the presidency, organizations like the World Games organizing committee will still be mailing him stuff, that doesn't have anything to do with the actual legal situation here in the United States. And any implication that it does give him legitamcy is INTENTIONALLY misleading. Why is Mr. Goh trying to intentionally mislead the wushu community?

3. PAWF Position Regarding USAWKF Dispute - OK, like point #2, why is this even here? It also has no meaning. First of all, just to make sure everyone knows, Mr. Goh is president of the Pan American Wushu Federation, is it surprising that he had them agree to acknowledge him as the USAWKF president? But the question remains, does the PAWF have any authority to decide who the legal head of the WKF is? Do they recognize the individual or the organization? Again, why is this even being mentioned? Is it just to mislead and confuse readers into thinking that Mr. Goh is legitimate?

Let's look at his subpoints one by one too -

a. Why is this even here? It says nothing about the WKF situation?

b. The declaration that PAWF is somehow independent is absurd. If he is the president of the PAWF, how is it independent? OK, lets ignore that, and ignore the fact that the PAWF has no authority to decide the legal president of the WKF, lets read further - look at this statement - "The PAWF Executive Committee[headed by Anthony Goh]unanimously recognizes Mr. Anthony Goh as the current President of USAWKF..." - a joke right? Am I the only one who sees a major conflict of interest here? Well let's read their reasoning /why/ - "This decision is based on the legal opinion of the Baltimore, Maryland law firm of Whiteford, Taylor, & Preston among other considerations." -- This is the first point in the letter where Mr. Goh sites some of the 'legal opinions' that agree with his view. Let's get this straight - the PAWF, who has no legal authority to decide who is the legal president of the USAWKF here in the US, has decided to recognize Mr. Goh, who also happens to be the president of said PAWF, based on a legal opinion of a lawyer, NOT based on the decision of any judge, but based on something written by a lawyer.

For those of you who may not be familiar with how the US legal system works (I'm not sure how the 'Pan-American' legal system works...) but when a case is in dispute and goes before a judge to be decided, both sides submit legal arguments. This usually consists of arguments based on evidence and citations of pertainent law. Often there is a great deal of disagreement between the two sides' briefs and it is up to a judge to review the arguments and make a decision (hence the name 'judge'). The winning side and the losing side both have legal arguments before the trial starts, but that doesn't mean they're both right.

Even in a MURDER case legal opinions are made on behalf of the accused, whether or not that person is innocent or not. If you pay a lawyer, he will write a legal argument for you, that doesn't make you right or wrong in your argument. Furthermore 'legal opinions' can be made until you're blue in the face, only a judge can decide who is the legal authority of the WKF, not a 'committee' of representatives of different countries, many of whom have little or no understanding of US corporate law, so are by no means qualified to make even lay-judgements based on ONE side of a legal dispute. (as Mr. Goh does not mention that any arguments were given by the WKF Board, I will assume that none were). Keep these facts in mind everytime 'legal' opinion or argument is used in this letter, it has no meaning outside of a court of law.

c. Again, why is this even being mentioned? What does it have to do with the legitamcy of the presidency of the USAWKF? Furthermore, look at this statement - "they sent letters, emails, and made incessant phone calls to harass PAWF Executive Committee members, in an attempt to influence the affairs of its Executive Committee, outside of the proper channels and procedures." - What exactly ARE the 'proper channels and procedures'? 'Harass' is a pretty subjective term, I assume that there is some proof?

d. A few comments to respond to here - "The PAWF Executive Committee has decided that PAWF will not recognize or accept any member of the U.S. coup attempt group..." - so does this mean that they don't even recognize Jeff Bolt as the Vice President? (which Mr. Goh argues that the IWuF does, and implies that he too does). Does PAWF disagree with the IWuF? Again, this comment has little or nothing to do with the legal status of the USAWKF. Furthermore, is Mr. Goh implying that the PAWF will not recognize the 'coup attempt group' even if a US court recognizes them as the legally legitimate leadership of the president? (as they, the Executive Committe has 'decided' already).

In response to the final paragraph of this point - What does this mean? - this is the ONLY part of this point that really has any value. It states that the PAWF apparently /does/ have some sort of authority to resolve this matter? Despite the fact that Mr. Goh's first point that the IWuF apparently has authority? (if not, why mention it?) Its either one or the other, and he has failed to prove that it is the PAWF (how about some citation of the IWuF or IOC bylaws dicatating that the regional federation has the power to decide these issues). What the procedures actually ARE for making decisions - I'm sure an order from the 'executive committee' (that is run by one of the participants in the dispute) is not the correct procedure. And even if it is, if a US Court of Law finds that Mr. Goh is not the president, what will the PAWF do? Tell the State of Maryland that it's wrong?

Think about these questions. It is very easy for committees to make decisions that support their president, but that doesn't mean they can effect the LEGAL situation of the WKF here in the United States of America. And it takes a judge to do that, not just a lawyer's opinion.

4. IWuF Membership Fees paid by USAWKF HQ in Baltimore, MD - As the attachments cited aren't actually provided, this argument has no use at this point in time. Either way, I refer to my rebuttle to point 2 for this point as well. If I paid the IWuF Membership fees would it mean that /I/ was the president of the USAWKF?

Now lets look at this statement - "Again, there is only one member per country, and only the member recognized by IWuF pays the membership fee." - does he mean 'one organziation per country' or does 'one member per country' - imply that the IWuF recognizes an individal, and not an organization?

5. Legal Documentation concluding that Anthony Goh remains the President of USAWKF - Who is concluding? Has a judge made a conclusion? Mr. Goh doesn't mention one, instead he clouds this with these quasi legal arguments. It is the legal opinion's author (the lawyer hired by or volunteering his service to Mr. Goh) that is drawing these conculsions. As we have already discussed, it is up to a judge to draw conclusions based on the arguments. How presitigous the law firm is doesn't mean anything. (Prestiguos law firms represented the tobacco industry too).

Goh further writes - "Please note that since November 1999 the Bolt group has never produced any public legal document by a licensed legal counsel stating that their actions had any validity" - my answer to that is - so what? Has the case gone before a judge or other legal authority? Mr. Goh's 'legal arguments' seem more aimed at us laymen, trying to convince us that he is somehow legitimate because the lawyer says so? I'm no lawyer, but I'm smart enough to know that lawyers are paid to argue the side of the person they are being paid by. A judge needs to decide 'validity' - a judge is the only one who needs to be reading a 'legal document by a licensed legal counsel.' This entire point only lends weight to the claim by some that Mr. Goh's 'legal arguments' are solely intended to convince us layman that he has some legitimacy. The fact that he has resorted to this tactic leads me to believe the exact opposite.

6. The myth of "the Board of Directors vs. the President/Anthony Goh" - This is more 'smoke and mirrors' from Mr. Goh. Rather than discussing the reasons WHY the Board of Directors voted to remove him, or discuss the WKF bylaws that the Board of Directors has used to justify their position, or even the WKF bylaws that he is claiming nullify the Boards actions in November 1999 or since then, instead he goes off on useless tangents that are transparent to anyone with more than a vague understanding of the situation.

The true situation is that certain members of the WKF Board voted to remove Mr. Goh as the President. Therefore they are claiming that Mr. Bolt is now president, and they are still members of the USAWKF board. Therefore other WKF Board Members, whether they voted for or against removing Mr. Goh, or believe that the vote was 'ridiculus' or not, are still WKF Board Members unless they resign that position (which it looks like several are). Let's look at an analogy - If the US Senate voted to impeach the President of the United States, the Senators would still be Senators after the President was impeached, whether they voted to impeach him or not (unless they are so disgusted that they resign).

7. The membership status of Board Members - This section is utterly ridiculus. Mr. Goh claims that Mr. Bolt, Ms. Rice and Mr. Gracenin aren't valid members of the WKF because their membership status has lapsed and therefore they are no longer able to act as WKF officials. Well first lets notice that according to Mr. Goh's statement Ms. Rice's membership continued through his removal as president in November 1999, therefore it is safe to assume that Mr. Goh has no knowledge of whether or not she renewed her membership through the WKF Board of Directors.

But lets focus on Mr. Gracenin. According to Mr. Goh, Mr. Gracenin hasn't paid membership dues since 1996. This truly is an indictment of Mr. Goh's leadership and poor book keeping, if he allows members of his own Board of Directors (these three members were on the Board before the impeachment vote) to not pay membership for OVER THREE YEARS (1996 through Mr. Goh's impeachment in 1999). According to Mr. Goh's own argument, the code of ethics that apparently applies was adopted in 1997. This implies that ALL decisions in which Mr. Gracenin participated in on behalf of the USAWKF were invalid? Wasn't Mr. Gracenin serving on IWuF committees on behalf of the USAWKF? Certainly under Mr. Goh's leadership, he wouldn't allow someone so CLEARLY "'unable to act' as officials of the Federation." to do exactly that, would he?

8. The "Two Team" Theory - another waste of time. I have yet to hear a single representative of either 'faction' of the WKF propose to have two US Teams. (Does Mr. Goh have a source for this 'theory'?) Any citations of the relevent rules, bylaws, etc of the IWuF, the IOC or even the PAWF about the ACTUAL procedures for deciding legitimacy. I'm sorry, but paraphrasing what they 'normally' do is not clear enough, how about something better?

9. The Special Advisory and Administrative Committee - perhaps the most dubious section of this letter? The more I look at it, the more I think so. Apparently Mr. Goh has come up for a response to the question (by people like me) - How does he claim to have been following the bylaws of the WKF since November 1999 without having any board approval for his Nationals and Team Trials? Apparently he has completely circumvented the Board of Directors by creating a 'Special Committee'? (Can someone find that section of the WKF Bylaws? I'm interested in finding out if it in fact does allow you to create a committee like this, and whether or not it requires the approval of the Board). But what does this 'Special Committee' do? Well first he says they "will help to organize events such as tournaments and team trials." then he later says it "has approved the Team Trials to be held in Baltimore, MD". Am I the only one who sees a difference between 'helping to organize' and being the sole entity responsible for 'approval'? I'm sorry Mr. Goh, do you think we are stupid?

Did Mr. Goh's recognized Board of Directors approve this committee? How were the members of this committee selected? Were these committee members the one responsible for coming up with those horrid Team Trials selection criteria? (read my previous news page entries for a thorough lamblasting of /THAT/).

And the real kicker? How about a piece of cheese to dangle in front of the mice? He's trying to lure the Athletes to his trials by promises of funding to cover expensese for the US Team to go to Worlds. Just like he had the WKF do in 1999 and 1997? Oh wait, the USAWKF didn't provide a DIME of funding for the US Team athletes in 1997 or 1999 did they? So what makes you believe that they will suddenly do it now? Perhaps Mr. Goh has some friends with some deep pockets who are willing to help him convince people of his legitimacy by providing funding for his team? Who knows. But a cynic like me simply sees this as a thinly veiled scam.

Mr. Goh concludes his letter with a conclusion of his letter, he states - Legally and procedurally Mr. Jeff Bolt is not authorized to conduct a team trial. - and yet Mr. Goh has not cited any laws, nor any procedures of the WKF bylaws that refute the legitimacy of the impeachment of Mr. Goh in 1999 or since then. It doesn't take a master of complex logic to realize that if Mr. Bolt is the legitimate President of the WKF, he /would/ be authorized to conduct a team trial.

And his next argument is perhaps the choicest statement - "You DO NOT need to compete at the UC Berkley "team trial" to qualify for the US Team, especially since this could save you time, costs, and unnecessary inconvenience." Can you find the two problems with this? 1) The correct spelling is Berkeley, not Berkley, and 2) this sentence suffers from poor grammar. Maybe Mr. Goh should fire his proof reader? (I would fire mine, but I don't have one).

In /MY/ conclusion, I'd like to point out that I read this memo with as open a mind as possible, but I simply read the same type of half-baked arguments made by Mr. Goh and his supporters in the past, but looking beyond the surface reveals the misleading nature of these statements. If he thinks we are stupid enough to accept his 'legal opinions' at face value without any decision from some true legal authority - not the IWuF, not the PAWF, but a true US court. I find the Board of Directors reasoning tenuous on some issues as well, but at least their statements aren't as obviously flawed as this one.

I welcome Mr. Goh or a responsible representative to counter my statements in an intelligent way (we've gotten the 'shouting' version already). I would like some proof that a court of law has proven he is the legitimate president. I would like some sort of evidence of how he has been running the WKF, despite the fact that a majority of the WKF Board of Directors do not recognize him as president for the past year and half. I would like to know if he has actually sought the approval of the Board for any decisions since November 1999? Can he justify the WKF bylaws allow this? What, in Mr. Goh's interpretation is the proper procedure for removing a sitting president? What do the WKF bylaws actually say about it? I mean the entire statement, not just selected quotes. (And finally, I would also like a statement that sticks to the issues and left the bullshit out).

OK, that said... I'll be at the competition here in BerkEley, hope to see you all here. :)

[speaking of which, DOES ANYONE HAVE GOOD PICTURES FROM COLLEGIATES? if so, please send some to me, so I can put them up here, I didn't get many usable ones and I need /your/ help]

But back to my main point. There of course is a lot of concern over which US Team trials will count, which trial's team will get to actually compete at the World Games in October. Well the USAWKF board of directors has made a statement on the subject that I wanted to point out to everyone - http://www.usawkf.com/board/notice_athletes_4-8-2001.html

Take a look, some good points in there. Thus far, there's no equivalent response from Anthony Goh's organization. And by the way, I forgot to explicitly mention it, the WKF Board of Directors also has their taolu team selection criterion up at - http://www.usawkf.com/team_trials/taolu_criteria.html - take a look at it. a MUCH more reasonable than the Anthony Goh Trials criterion that I skewered (so effectively, if I do say so myself) on the 29th of march (see two entries below). :)

What do you guys think? Feel free to discuss this (and anything else), on the message board.

Oh, and speaking of which, some of you may have noticed a very passionate and viralent participant by the name of Sean Marshall, who apparently is a senior student of Anthony Goh's. He made came to the defense of Mr. Goh and also tried to counter the WKF Board of Director's view of recent WKF happenings. I welcome this kind of alternative view point, but rather than trying to debate, Mr. Marshall was just repeating himself over and over and not responding to direct questions for clarification. In the long run I think Mr. Marshall did more harm to his cause then good. (and I got really frustrated with his failure to rebut any difficult questions).

The discussions started by him and started around the 14th of march or so and and continued until the 1st of April (ironically, April Fools day). I think the best (or at least most fun) ones to read, including a couple tirades from me (my frustration is very clear, I apologize!) -

This one is where Bi-Ying shoots him down for his main point about Jeff Bolt not showing up at the correct time.

This one is pretty good, I think I completely dismantle any notion that one could have had that Mr. Marshall has been living on the same planet as the rest of us for the past 5 years or so. ;)

This One is where I show where he's contradicting himself/lying about his whereabouts on the day Jeff Bolt showed up at Anthony Goh's school.

Last but not least, maybe the best response to make Marshall look bad, was this message by US Team member Brandon Sugiyama giving eyewitness proof about how the US team was REALLY represented by Mr. Goh and others at the 99 World Games in HK.

OK, OK, I'll admit it - the real reason for me to link to those is so I can go back and read them in like 6 months and get a good chuckle. :)

First of all, click here to view the partially completed photoessay from my trip to HK, Macau and China over winter break. I've only got the first part (the HK and Macau part) done so far, which contain absolutely no wushu in them, but it might be interesting none the less to some people. I promise that part three will actually have some really great pictures of the Beijing Team that I snapped as they were doing a demo in Xiamen when I visited them. Hopefully I'll get the next two parts done in the next month.

Secondly I want to plug the new website for a friend of mine. Miss Dam Thanh Xuan of the Vietnam Wushu Team. I met her back in the Summer of '99 while training in Beijing. She's also got a first and two fourth places at the last World Wushu Games. The English on the page isn't flawless, but the site is worth checking out, especially if you can speak Vietnamese. The site is at -

http://www.damthanhxuan.8m.com

Lastly, the WKF Board of Directors has registration information up for their team trials, set for April 21st in Berkeley, CA (held in conjunction with the 9th annual UC Berkeley Chinese Martial Arts Championship). The website with info and links to reg forms can be found here -

http://usawkf.com/team_trials/reg_info.html

Just to help clarify, in case anyone is confused. If you are planning on trying out for the team, you need to fill out two forms - the UC Berkeley Wushu Club's reg form, and the USAWKF's reg form. You also need to include a signed waiver, proof of citizenship and the appropriate payments. Then mail all this into the WKF.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THEM

Well, it might be less flawed and unfair than the Sanshou team selection criterion, but it ain't great.

To briefly summarize, they're adding up your scores in the three events you are required to compete in. And they'll take the top 4 totals to be on the team.

This of course is inherently flawed because -

1) We've been led to believe that the World Games does not require you do three events.

2) If you do taiji and don't do external, you are screwed by this system, because even if you do learn an external long weapon, you'd better be really good with it otherwise your total will fall really short of most half-way decent external competitors (ie, it doesn't matter how good your taiji and taiji sword are, if you don't have a good spear or staff, you have zero chance of making the team).

3)The World games does not have any sort of all-around competition, so the best 'all-around' competitor has no use on the US Team, which is exactly what type of competitor this method will select. You could be a China level changquan competitor, a sure thing to win a gold medal at the world games, but if your short or long weapons aren't up to snuff, you don't make the team, because you're going to be beaten out by someone with mediocre level forms. Of course this mediocre person will go to the Worlds and secure lots of 19th and 20th places for the USA... (woo hoo...)

4)There are no provisions in the published criterion for removing the ability of a judge/coach from trying to get their student on the team through unfair judging. Based on the track record of our sport, this is an absolute necessity. If provisions are being made to handle this issue, this should be publicized.

5)Also, for some inexplicible reasons, they are requiring you to compete with the NEW compulsory forms, despite the fact that there are no books available and video tapes have only recently been put on the market (in the last month). It may be true that some of the team is required to do the new compulsories (according to the their reg form), but keep in mind that the actual world games are not until over five months after the team trials, plenty of time to learn them. Is it fair to not select a very talented athlete just because he has not had the opportunity to learn the new forms (given the fact that there have been SO few opportunities to learn them).

6) Continuing on that vein - HOW will the new compulsories be judged? With no textbooks, and most people not even having the video tape, is it fair to mark people off for errors in the set? How will this be handled? (again, if there are provisions being made, they should be publicized).

Keep in mind that these are the Anthony Goh organized Team Trials. The WKF Board of Directors will be holding their team trials on 4/21 in Berkeley, California. Team selection criterion haven't been released yet. But don't fear, I will pick through them with an equally fine-toothed comb too.

Speaking of worlds, Ziranman posted this article from the People's Daily Website thats pretty interesting -

Doping Control to Make Wushu World Championships Debut - (3/25/01)

Also I'm going to be putting up pictures from Collegiates (last month) pretty soon, but unfortunately the ones from my camera weren't very good (last time I let someone else use my camera while I'm competing), but hopefully I'll be getting some from other people soon. (If you have any good pictures from the competition you want to share w/ everyone, let me know!)

The WKF situation is contuining without any resolution, but we are seeing some movement from the two sides (the Board of Directors side and the Anthony Goh side) - The Anthony Goh/Baltimore side has announced that they are going to be holding their Team Trials on the 28th of April this year, in.... thats' right, you guessed it, Baltimore! Also it appears they're going to be holding their version of Nationals (ie the 'International Wushu Festival') in Orlando this August (what? not Baltimore? I guess they felt 5 years in the same place would compromise the quality of this fine event?)

Well, things get even more interesting when we look at what the other side is up to, the 'WKF Board of Directors'/non-Anthony Goh/'coup attempters' side apparently tried to come up with a resolution (or at least a dialogue) on the WKF situation. But their attempt at a face to face meeting apparently ended with Anthony Goh calling the cops on them.... read all about it in their letter about the events of the WKF board meeting on March 2nd. Crazy isn't it? Now you know despite my best attempts, I'm not impartial on this issue, but this is really over the line, don't you think?

The question remains, which of the two groups will select and bring the US team to the World Games in October? Which group's Team trials will count, and which one's won't? (btw, if you have no idea what the 'WKF Situation' is, I suggest you read the news below, starting like last May or so).

OK, now quickly on to collegiates - right after the fact, I quickly put up some results on the message board, I'll repeat them here and try to expand it a little. I will hopefully get to stick up some pictures in the near future -

The tournament was a success, about 70 competitors or so (about 60 of which were from Berkeley and Stanford!) well organized tournament (finished early even), some pretty good judging too (not as good as last years, of course![sorry, an inside joke, as some of the judges for 2000 were current US Team members, who are also friends of mine]), and some really good competition.

One problem that did happen was the tabulation of all-around champion and team scores. Turns out after some miscommunication and some miscalculation, the male all-around was awarded to the wrong person, but after some double checking, the correct person got it. Unfortunately there was no announcement to correct the Male-All-Around mix up, so I want to make sure everyone knows that Chris Wang of the University of Wisconson was the guy who won it. (yeah Chris!)

The team competition was really close between UC Berkeley and Stanford, with Stanford's Red team being awarded the team title.

Also Cheryl Chang, of Virginia Tech (furthest travelling competitor) took the female all-around.

Again, sorry for the delay in the updates. Don't forget to check the message board for the latest discussions on these topics and more! ;)

But back to reality. Its a week and a half to collegiates. Are you going? Its the 17th at Cal State Fullerton in S. Cal. It should be fun. UC Berkeley has a BIG group going (about 35 competitors!), Stanford is going to have a bunch too. Hope to see everyone there. I'll be the guy out of breath lying on the floor (cause I'm doing like 6 events).

BUT, if you can't make it, I added a new event to the Events Page. Alan Tang tipped me off to the upcoming Canadian Team trials at the end of June. They'll also have competition for foriegners, so everyone is encouraged to go. Apparently they're just using the new compulsories for the competition, which should be interesting, as these forms aren't very widespread yet, or that well practiced (having reference materials certainly would help, are you listening IWuF???). Anyhow, thanks to Alan for the 411.

Question is when and where are the US Team trial(s) going to be? (And which version of the WKF is going to get to send the team to worlds? Is it too late for me to move to Canada?) :)

I'm finally getting settled back home, so hopefully I can get some new content up in the coming weeks (although school starts on tuesday...) China was a lot of fun, I didn't do any wushu but I did visit the Beijing team while I was there, so I do have a few good pictures I can get a photoessay out of. Some people were interested in seeing some of my 'non-wushu' pictures too, so maybe I'll get a feature of that too (have some good 'Freaky Chinese Bad-English Signage' Pictures that I think everyone will enjoy).

In the MEANWHILE, I'll let you guys enjoy ONE picture I took in Hong Kong. Go check out my Famous Picture page (now reorganized by category). Skip down to 'Movie Stars.' I won't comment any further at this point in time. Enjoy. ;)

I'm still in China. I just asw a demo by the beijing team this morning... too bad I don't have a digital camera, I could have uploaded some pics. (donations are accepted...)

I'm still trying to figure out what exactly is the status on Collegiates. Just remember that its going to be FEBRUARY 17th! Tell everyone!