The National Inter-Schools Wushu Championships has finally come to an end on 22nd April, Friday. It has been a gruelling week for us all, ever since it began last Monday. The competition was held at Manjusri Secondary school(huh???). Personally, the canteen food is hell lot worse than our YJ canteen. Its unhygenic, it sucks, and it causes health hazards. All the competitors can vouch for that. Geez....
On Day 1(Monday), Yi Guang, Calvin, competed in the 5 duan Nan Quan category, with Yi Guang clinching the 4th position. Zhi Hao also got the 4th position for the 4 duan Cang Quan category. Yi Hui also competed in the women's 4 duan Cang Quan, and was far better than any of the other competitors. Unfortunately, a moment of error had ruined her otherwise highest score, thus she was unable to achieve her gold.
Day 2(Tuesday) : Yi Guang and Calvin competed against the other JC teams in dui lian. However, they were not good enough, and didn't managed to get any of the 4 positions. Despite them not winning anything, they put up a good performance, even though they only had less than 1 month to prepare for it. Yi Hui and Wei Cai also competed in the women's 4 duan jian event, and Yi Hui managed to grab the silver(2nd placing). Congrats! Tiffany and Jia Qi competed in the women's 4 duan dao, also on the same day. Both performed well, but were unable to get into any of the top 4 positions. Esp Tiffany, who was 0.005 points behind 4th. Damn!
Day 3(Wednesday) : On wednesday there were only 3 members competing, namely Zhi Hao, Benson and me. Zhi Hao and I competed in the 4 duan qiang event, and Benson competed in 4 duan gun. I managed to get 4th for my event, which, to me, was very lucky, considering I had the same score with 2 other opponents. I had the highest score among them. *phew!*
Day 4(Thursday): Zhi Hao and me competed in the 4 duan jian category on thursday, and Zhi Hao gt the 4th position. Unfortunately for me, I fumbled in the starting, so I had no chance at all... Too bad. Tiffany and Wei Cai competed in the women's 4 duan gun, and this time, Tiffany managed to get the 4th position. Congrats! Benson competed in the men's 4 duan dao, however he did not make it. =(
Day 5(Friday) : The last and final day, the competions were held in Toa Payoh Sports Hall, and 7 of us were competing on that day. We were all competing in the group events, in quan shu and qi xie. We clinched the 4th position for our group Quanshu, to which we were very happy about it. Unfortunately for the weapons category, I had the honor of dropping my Bishou on the floor, and we became the last. Well, FUCK.

Anyway, all in all, I have enjoyed myself(except friday of coz), and I bet everyone participating in the competitions feel the same way. One way or another, everyone has learnt something of value from it. To me, the greatest lesson that I have learnt, is that your opponent is always yourself, and not the other competitors. Why? Because we are the ones in control of our own actions. No one else. If other competitors are far better than us, so be it. When we start to give up, when we start to lose hope, we start fighting against ourselves. We become our own enemy, and thats where we fail. Winning, or losing, it is just part of life. You win some, you lose some. The most important thing is whether we are always striving to achieve to the best of our abilities, or merely be content with what we already have. That is why our greatest enemy is always ourselves. If anybody were to ask me if I feel sad getting a 4th, this is my answer: The most important thing is doing my best in the competition. Anything else, is a bonus.

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