Cheong Min’s now Malaysia’s most successful wushu exponent

PETALING JAYA: Tan Cheong Min (pic) will now go down in the history books as the most successful wushu exponent Malaysia has ever produced.

She earned herself a perfect early birthday gift by ending a 12-year-old gold drought for Malaysia at the World Games in Chengdu, China, yesterday.

Cheong Min, who will turn 27 on Aug 20, combined poise with power to come out tops in the nandao (broadsword) event with 9.733 points at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Centre Gymnasium.

Cheong Min had also finished the nanquan event in similar fashion on Friday, earning 9.746 points to lead the field.

The storming displays saw Cheong Min winning the nandao and nanquan all-round event with a combined total of 19.479 points, ahead of Darya Latisheva of Uzbekistan (19.433) and Kassandra Ong of Singapore (19.386).

Cheong Min is the country’s first gold medallist in wushu and only the fourth gold medallist for Malaysia in World Games history.

Bowlers Daniel Lim and Sharon Low claimed the mixed doubles event in Finland (1997) while Nicol David picked up three gold medals between 2005 (Germany) and 2013 (Colombia).

Sydney Chin etched her place in history earlier as the first Malaysian medal winner for wushu.

Sydney secured the bronze medal in the women’s taijiquan and taijijian all-round with a total of 19.410 points.

China’s Lu Zhuoling took gold with 19.522 points while Singapore’s Zeanne Law got the silver with 19.430 points.

Cheong Min, Sydney, Pang Pui Yee and newly crowned Taolu Asia Cup champion Clement Ting qualified to represent Malaysia at this year’s edition of the World Games, which is held every four years.

The petite Cheong Min never thought the day would come when she would sweep almost everything there is on offer in her sport.

“This is my first time participating in the World Games. For non-Olympic sports, this is one of the highest platforms we can aim for. I did not expect much as I know most of the participants in the field also had strong points.

“There was pressure as I had won in the world and Asian stage but the good support from the audience also encouraged me to give my best.

“I’m very grateful to the Wushu Federation of Malaysia and the coaches for the support in sending us for this competition despite a packed calendar,” said Cheong Min, the silver medallist at the Hangzhou Asian Games in 2022.

Cheong Min has now added the World Games medal to her glittering collection, which includes two World Championship titles (2017 and 2019), double gold in the Cambodia SEA Games (2023), gold in World Combat Games (2023), gold in Asian Championships (2024) and two-time winner of Taolu World Cup (2018 and 2024).

Cheong Min’s adventure has not ended as she still have the World Championships in Brazil next month and the Thailand SEA Games in December to look forward to.