Zachary Ladkin, a 22 year from Ruddington, recently returned from the USA after representing Great Britain in the official World Wushu Championships (Chinese Martial Arts and Kung-fu), organised by the International Wushu Federation (IWUF).
This biennial signature event is the highest competitive level within the sport, and includes the world’s top professional athletes from Asia, Europe, Africa, Pan America and Oceania.
The 16th World Wushu Championships (WWC) were held from 16th to 20th November 2023 in Fort Worth, Texas. The event attracted nearly 1,500 participants from 80+ countries and 20,000 to 30,000 spectators.
Zac performed admirably in his first appearance on the world stage and finished one event in 17th place – beating many full time professionals from around the world and scoring higher than any previous GB debutant.
Having trained from the age of five, it was a dream come true for Zac to be selected for the national team at WWC and represent the nation. He now has his sights set on representing GB in the European Championships, set to be held in Sweden this year.
This will be followed by the 2025 World Championships in Brazil, where he hopes to improve on his fantastic showing at the WWC in 2023. If you’d like to take a look at his performance, the whole event can be streamed on YouTube via WUSHU TV live.
You can find out more about Wushu and the IWUF at www.iwuf.org.
Anyone interested in sponsoring Zac is asked to please contact zacharyladkin@hotmail.co.uk.
Paul Ladkin