Featured Athlete Of the Week: Yong Yi Xiang

The CCA PROs are proud to announce that the 3rd week of April has yielded results that are deserving of allowing this particular week to have two featured athletes, instead of just one (Jeevan). Thus, we present to you: YONG YI XIANG (10S79) of Wushu!

This year at the Nationals, Yi Xiang was a symbol of prowess and valour, bagging multiple gold medals which contributed immensely to the overall team score, and playing a crucial role in defending the championship title.

Yi Xiang’s achievements in this year’s Wushu Nationals include:

Gold in 2nd International Broadsword Routine

Gold in 2nd International Cudgel Routine

Gold in 2nd International Changquan Routine

Prior to entering his first year as a J1, Y Xiang had participated actively in external competitions; one such outing earned him a prestigious Gold in 1st International Cudgel Routine in the 2nd World Junior Wushu Championships held in Bali in 2008.

Yi Xiang at the World Junior Championships

Yi Xiang during a competition held in Macau

In 2009, Yi Xiang was also named Singapore SportsBoy of the Year, bringing honour to both his family and school.

HCunite interviewed Yi Xiang to find out more about his journey as an athlete.

1) Anyone watching your showcases at the Nationals or during training would undoubtedly brand you as a cut above the rest. When did you first start practicing, and how has Wushu made an impact on your life up until now?

Thanks for the compliment! I entered competitive Wushu at the age of 12 and have been training since then till now. I believe that Wushu has shaped me into the person that I am today, providing me with experiences and exposure that nothing else could have. The impacts range from teaching me the importance of respect to learning how to pick myself up after every failure to interacting with athletes from other countries, all of which I believe has made positive influences on my life.

2) Winning your medals during the Nationals this year was an amazing feat! How do you feel about your achievements?

Happy! This year’s achievements were the best for me as an individual and also for HC WUSHU as a whole. I am glad that I am able to contribute to our hard-fought victory at this year’s National Interschool Wushu Championships.

3) Preparation of the mind can make the difference on the mat. Physical training aside, how do you prepare yourself mentally for trainings and competitions?

Prior to trainings and competitions, I usually watch videos of professional China athletes to motivate myself and I also use positive visual imagery where I try to picture myself doing a perfect routine with no mistakes in order to build up my own confidence. I will still get very nervous during competitions but once I am on the mat, I will just do the best I can and showcase my own abilities.

4) For any athlete, setbacks are part and parcel of his/her journey. Have you faced any interesting challenges and how did you overcome them?

For me, I think I am very injury-prone. Before every competition, I tend to get injured and they always affect my performance during competition. It’s like a trend for me. The worst injury for me was last year where I injured my ankle 2 weeks prior to an international competition and had to withdraw totally from the competition. I think all these injuries are setbacks that constantly slow my progress in Wushu and it’s irritating because I can do nothing about them. I can only remind myself to stay alert during trainings to minimize the occurrence of accidents.

5) Martial arts can easily entertain the crowd, but to the practitioner, it speaks of a constant drive to upgrade oneself. Where do you see yourself and HC Wushu a few years from now? Do you hope to venture into other forms of martial arts?

Wushu is definitely a sport where you need to constantly improve yourself in order to maintain the competitive edge. I do hope that in a few years from now, I will still be a national athlete representing Singapore for international competitions and hopefully attaining medals and recognition for Singapore’s Wushu arena, although it is kind of far-fetched. In a few years time, I believe that HC Wushu will continue to progress and improve and continuously out-rival VJC to maintain our championship title! I doubt I will venture into other forms of martial arts for now, but I may consider in future when I retire from competitive wushu.

6) Any shout-out to your present and previous teammates and fellow HC athletes?

To HCWUSHU’10, you guys are the best! Together we managed to make history where both the guys and girls division achieved their best result ever! Thanks a lot to all of you and seriously, HCWUSHU’10 rocks TTM! =D

To all other athletes, jiayou for all your upcoming competitions! Good luck, do your best, have no regrets and truly, all of us are champions! =D ALL THE BEST TO ALL CCAS IN THEIR COMPETITIONS!

HC Wushu '10!

7) What has been the biggest factor that has influenced and helped you in journey as an HC athlete?

The biggest factor is definitely the support of my teammates! Taking this chance, I would like to apologize to them for not being around most of the time, but in spite of this, they are still very supportive of me. For this, I am truly grateful to all my teammates in HCWUSHU’10, both guys and girls! One person could never have achieved the result we achieved this year! We won this together as a team =D

Keep up the top-class form and performance, Yi Xiang! You may very well have influenced and inspired many other athletes through your achievements and sheer charisma. With this being the start of Yi Xiang’s stinct in the college section, we can expect so much more from him over the course of these two years. Lastly, congratulations to Wushu for achieving such commendable results this year! Well done!

That’s it! Stay tuned for the next featured athlete(s) of the week!

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Tags: Featured Personality, Wushu
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