Rio De Janiero, Brazil
March 31 - April 1, 2001
See all event photos on our flickr gallery
Rio De Janiero, Brazil - March 28, a USSA team traveled to Brazil for the first ever Pan-American Shuai-chiao tournament. The tournament was sponsored by many city officials both in the US and Brazil making it a highly publicized and official event.
The two day event was full of excitement and hope as the growth and development of Shuai-chiao was on exhibition. Dr. Weng has been developing with Master Li Wing-Kay a Shuai-chiao program in South America for over 8 years. Their hard work and vision paid off on this day with the successful merging of the two continents featuring a Shuai-chiao demonstration by a local school, a exciting national tournament, a Shuai-chiao filled San-shou event, and the showdown of the best in Pan-America.
The USA Shuai-Chiao team took the mat after an afternoon of fierce competition between the South Americans whom were fighting to be the 2001 South American Shuai-chiao champion. The winners of the 2001 South American national championship then earned the right along with other previously chosen fighters to compete against the USA Shuai-Chiao team in the Pan American Shuai-Chiao Championships.
The brackets for the Pan American tournament were arranged so that the USA Shuai-Chiao competitors would fight both this year's South American national champions & the Brazilian national champion (selected by the Brazilian Shuai-Chiao team) in order to win the 2001 Pan-American Shuai-Chiao Championship.
The US Shuai-Chiao Team swept the first round of competitions against the Brazilian National Team. As the finals began the crowd began to chant at a feverish pitch: BRASIL!! BRASIL!! To the ROARING crowd of over 2,000 South American spectators in the large stadium like arena. The result was USA Shuai-Chiao team taking home 5 Gold medals & 3 Silver medals.
Shuai-chiao Results
Youth Open Weight
Gold Emeric Chen
65 kgs
Gold Emeric Chen
72 kgs
Gold Leo Wong
75 kgs
Gold She-peng Weng
78 kgs
Silver Jan-Yu Weng
85 kgs
Silver Eric Brooks
San-shou Results
85 kgs
Gold Eric Brooks
Highlights
The strongest competition took place in the 78kgs and under weight category, where team captain Jan-Yu Weng took on two of the Brazilian's strongest & most experienced fighters. Jan-Yu defeated his first opponent (who was a great deal stronger and also a Brazilian Judo champion) with ease against the dismay of the screaming Brazilian crowd. In the finals the Brazilian competitor fought cautiously, defensively, staling & holding back any attempt to enter by Jan-Yu. With the scored tied, 0 to 0, after the two rounds of regulation in overtime Jan-Yu finally forced a entry (using a springing/leg block technique), but failed and landed on his feet but placed 1 hand thus losing the match.
Eric Brooks was the lone competitor amongst the USA team to fight San-Shou following the Shuai-Chiao tournament. Again competition was fierce amongst the Brazilian fighters in the San-Shou tournament. However, Eric Brooks slowed the match down with his relaxed fluid Shuai-Chiao fighting style. With an impressive array of throws Eric displayed to the Brazilians the dominance of Shuai-Chiao in the San-Shou arena by winning gold in his weight class.
The tournament was not only a success for the USA Shuai-Chiao Team who left the stadium with a 2nd place team trophy (1st went to Brazil due to the large number of athletes), but more importantly, with the respect of both the Brazilian people & the South American competitors, our new Shuai-chiao friends.
