DUSHANBE, July 20, 2010, Asia-Plus  -- Tajik athletes won two gold medals at the Open Wushu Championships that took place in St. Petersburg, Russia this month, Murodullo Teshayev, a spokesman for the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Tajikistan, told Asia-Plus on Tuesday.

According to him, athletes from a number of European countries and CIS nations took part at the international competitions in St. Petersburg.

“Tajikistan was represented by Siyovush Gulmamadov and Foteh Tabarov,” said the NOC spokesman, “Siyovush Gulmamadov participated in “suan shu” type and Foteh Tabarov participated in “dui-lian” type.  Both Tajik athletes managed to show the best results and won gold medals.” 

The sport of wushu is both an exhibition and a full-contact sport  derived from traditional Chinese martial arts. It was created in the People''s Republic of China after 1949, in an attempt to nationalize the practice of traditional Chinese martial arts. Most of the modern competition forms were formed from their parent arts by government-appointed committees.   In contemporary times, wushu has become an international sport through the International Wushu Federation (IWUF), which holds the World Wushu Championships every two years; the first World Championships were held in 1991.

We will recall that Tajik athletes have won 35 gold, 28 silver and 35 bronze medals at various international competitions since the beginning o this year.