Chinese athlete E Meidie won the gold medal in a Wushu Sanshou division after defeating a Turkish rival. Photo: Xin

By Li Yanhui

Chinese athletes won 10 of the 13 possible gold medals for wushu in the first two days of the inaugural SportAccord Combat Games at the National Indoor Stadium, reviving discussions of whether wushu should be an Olympic sport.

The SportAccord Combat Games 2010 Beijing opened on Saturday, with 22,059 athletes from 105 countries and regions gathering to participate in 13 martial arts and combat events, including wushu.

The Combat Games were sponsored by the General Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF) and will be held every four years. This year's games run until September 4 in Beijing.

Kung fu movie stars Jackie Chan and Jet Li both attended the opening ceremony, with Chan crooning the Combat Games' theme song, accompanied by foreign wushu perfomers hailing from the US, UK, Canada and elsewhere, according to the Beijing News.

However, the two movie stars held differing opinions on whether wushu should be included in the Olympic Games.

Wushu was exhibited during the 2008 Olympics, raising hopes for its eventual inclusion, as happened for judo.

Chan told the Beijing News that wushu brought him global popularity, and that people of all nationalities and races come to China to learn wushu. "I'm proud of Chinese wushu and often feels regret that wushu isn't included in the Olympics," Chan said, further guessing that Chinese wushu perhaps has too many styles and schools to be recognized as one sport. He hoped to combine the different styles into a united image that would enable wushu to be considered for inclusion.

Li held the opposite opinion. Now 40, he's practiced wushu since the age of 8. He suggested taiji as a better fit for the Olympics. "I don't think wushu will be accepted by the Olympics, but I will make every effort for the rest of my life to promote taiji to the Olympics, as there are 130 million taiji fans in the world," he told the Liaoning-based Huashang Morning Post Saturday. Li said he hoped taiji will be recognized by the Olympics in the next 15 to 20 years.

The Secretary-General of the International Wushu Federation Wang Youlin told the Beijing Times that Li's suggestion should be an option, but "Chinese wushu is too profound. Its promotion should be simplified to meet the global circumstances. Then people can love it easily."

But he also pointed out that the Olympics are trying to reduce the number of involved sports. "If wushu can be listed as an Olympic sport, then one of the other 28 sports would have to quit," he said.