Don’t miss 2011 Tiger Claw Kungfu Magazine Championship
May 12th, 2011 5:34 pm ET
Violet Li
Tai Chi Examiner

Last year, Tiger Claw Kungfu Magazine Championship (TCKFMC) added three extra divisions for the tournament. This year, its effort has extended further to include four new divisions (Songshan Shaolin Champion, Mulan Quan, Health Qigong, and Special Skills Qigong) in addition to last year’s standard Chinese Martial Arts divisions. With ten competition rings, this year’s tournament is probably the largest in North America. In cooperation with Tony and Theresa Kattenlgell’ Shark City Nationals, the third Annual TCKFMC will be held on June 4th at the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California. It will be webcasted from the event.

The Chinese Martial Arts divisions include Tai Chi (empty hand, weapons, and Push Hands), Wing Chun (empty hand, Chi Sau, and team competition), traditional Chinese Martial Arts (empty hand, short weapons, and long weapons), and Contemporary Wushu (empty hand, short weapons, and long weapons). In each of the categories, there are divisions by age group, style, rank and gender. For Push Hands and Chi Sau, there are divisions by body weight. The TCKFMC is working hard to encourage participation of all martial artists regardless their gender, age, style preference or weapon choice. There are champions in each division. There will also be 45 grand champion titles and 27 Blackbelt Grand Champion titles. The Blackbelt Grand Champions will also receive cash awards.

With the success and reputation of the past two tournaments, this year’s VIP list is extremely impressive. So far Grandmaster Chu Chi Ling, Master He Tao, Shaolin Monk Jin Le, Grandmaster Helen Liang, Grandmaster Liang Shouyu, Grandmaster Ming Lum, Grandmaster Al Novak, Grandmaster Alexander Tao,
Grandmaster Tu Jin-Sheng, Grandmaster Wang Zhihai(Chairman of Cang County Wushu Association, Director of Cangzhou Roaring Sea Martial Arts Academy, Honorary President of World Martial Arts Research Association),
Master Grace Wu-Monnat, Dr. Yang Jwing-Ming, and many other masters will be attending this event to judge and/or to demonstrate. It will be an eye opening experience for Kungfu aficionados.

It is quite exciting to see TCKFMC adding four new divisions for this competition. The rules are stricter as the following:

Songshan Shaolin Champion: This title is open to anyone competing with a classic form currently practiced at the original Shaolin Temple in Songshan, China. This includes (but is not limited to) empty-hand forms such as Xiaohongquan, Dahongquan, Luohanquan, Qixingquan, and Taizu Changquan, as well weapon forms such as Yinshougun, Meihuadao, Tamojian, and so on. Competitors will be judged by a panel of Songshan Shaolin experts. In the event of a tie, competitors will face off with different Songshan Shaolin forms until a winner is determined. The champion will receive a special Shaolin prize including being featured in a showcase article in the next Shaolin Special issue of Kung Fu Tai Chi magazine.

Mulan Quan: Mulan Quan is traditional fusion of martial arts and dance, inspired by the legendary 5th Century heroine, Hua Mulan. Mulan Quan will be judged alongside the internal divisions.

Health Qigong: This division is open to practitioners of any of the four standardized qigong regimens - Five Animal Frolics (wuqinxi), Muscle-Tendon Change Classic (yijinjing), Six Healing Sounds (liuzijue), and Eight-Section Brocade (baduanjin). Health Qigong will be judged alongside the internal divisions.

Special Skills Qigong: This is an INVITATION-ONLY exhibition event, overseen by Grandmaster Tu Jin-Sheng. Under his direction, this will be the 2nd Annual Golden Dragon Cup, and will feature such unique competitions as bending steel rods, throwing chopsticks and iron crotch.

To support the WildAid effort to protect endangered tiger, this year’s tournament will hold the 2nd Annual WildAid Tiger Claw Champion to benefit the effort.

You can click on links (link1, link 2, and link 3) here to realize the size of this event. For more information about this year’s tournament, you can visit its website or contact Tony & Theresa Kattengell at 408-313-5272. In case you can not attend in person, you can watch it online.
Once again, Violet Li was kind enough to give us some publicity.