Wushu Explained: Useful Information for You to Know

Wushu is a generic term that denotes all martial arts that exist currently in China. The word consists of two hieroglyphs denoting “war” and “technique”. It is not reasonable to look for some philosophical meaning of this word because the term is used alongside many similar ones. Thus, the given article is going to present the most important information on wushu, its rules, and main peculiarities.

General Information

Wushu competitions can be either individual or team ones. There are also other competition tournaments, in which athletes leave a competition after the first loss, after the second loss, or without leaving at all (a round-robin system). When it comes to those competitions where the first loss becomes a final fight for an athlete, additional fights should be organized following the semi-finals to determine an athlete who will occupy the third place. To win in a final fight, an athlete should beat his/her opponent in two of three rounds. At the same time, each round lasts for two minutes with 1-minute intervals between them.

All competition participants are divided into appropriate groups according to their weights. Thus, the following ten weight categories are present in wushu:

• up to 52 kilos;
• 52-56 kilos;
• 56-60 kilos;
• 60-65 kilos;
• 65-70 kilos;
• 70-75 kilos;
• 75-80 kilos;
• 80-85 kilos;
• 85-90 kilos;
• over 90 kilos.

Athletes should participate in a weighing procedure on a fight day. If an event lasts for a few days, weighing procedures should take place each day. This procedure lasts for an hour, during which all the participants should appear on scales in trousers only. If an athlete is late, he/she is not allowed to participate in the competition. If, for example, an athlete was said to participate in the 70-75 kilos weight category, but his actual weight is 69 kilos, he has the right to perform in the originally stated weight category. If the actual weight is more than an upper limit, this fighter is not allowed to participate in an event.

Equipment

Wushu fighters should have specific helmets, mouth guards, chest pads, pelvic pads, shin guards, and boxing gloves. All these protective pieces can be of either red or blue colors. Athletes should perform with bare feet wearing a T-shirt and short pants of the same color; these clothes should be without any images. Specific attention should be paid to the weight of gloves: they must weigh 227 g for fighters up to 65 kilos included and 284 g for fighters of 70 kilos and more.

Rules and Officials

Every wushu official competition is served by the following officials:

1. Main referee.
2. One or two assistants.
3. Chief judge.
4. Scorekeeper.
5. Timekeeper.
6. Five side judges.
7. Doctor with one or two assistants.
8. One or two public-address announcers.

As for the official rules, they stipulate that such parts of opponents as head, legs, and body are allowed to aim kicks at. At the same time, it is forbidden to do the following:

• to kick the opponent’s back of the head, throat, neck, and pelvic area;
• to kick an opponent with one’s head, knee, and elbow;
• to keep kicking the opponent’s head continuously;
• to make an opponent start attacks from backward;
• to throw an opponent on his/her head;
• to attack a lying opponent except for cases when the opponent’s fall was a defensive move;
• to hold an opponent for more than two seconds.

An immediate victory is given to a fighter in the following cases:

1. There is an evident advantage of one athlete or his/her opponent is unable to continue a fight.
2. An opponent is swept off feet following a legal kick and keeps lying for ten seconds or he/she stands up but is unable to continue a fight.
3. A fighter is said to be a winner if he/she gets injured as a result of the opponent’s illegal kick or hit, and this fact is proved by the doctor.
4. A victory is given to an opponent if his/her opponents managed to leave the borders of the fighting area twice and touched the ground outside its limits with even the smallest part of its body.
5. The referee counts “Eight Seconds” for passivity twice over a single fight; this fighter is said to lose.
6. If an athlete manages to score three points three times in a row, he/she is said to be a winner.

Scoring System

A fighter is given three points in the following cases when he/she:

• makes his/her opponent leave the borders of the fighting area;
• has performed an overhead throw while stayed on his/her feet;
• sweeps an opponent off his feet while stays on his/her own ones;
• makes an opponent fall with the help of fake movements.

A fighter is given two points in the following cases when he/she:

• has performed some technical kicks that made an opponent fall;
• kicks an opponent’s body once;
• an opponent is given warning.

A fighter is given one point in the following cases when he/she:

• successfully performs a hit that is aimed at allowed parts of the opponent’s body;
• kicks the opponent’s head or legs;
• when two opponents are passive over eight seconds, the referee gives the command to attack, and a point is given to a more active fighter provided his/her opponent is passive again;
• when two fighters fall simultaneously, a point is given to an athlete who happens to be above his/her opponent.

Points are not given to any of the athletes in the following cases:

• the opposing athletes perform kicks or hits simultaneously;
• opponents’ joint actions result in the fact that they leave the fighting area simultaneously;
• a fighter performs an attacking action and falls after it;
• a fighter holds an opponent and performs kicks and hits;
• an athlete kicks the lower part of the opponent’s leg;
• vague hitting and kicking technique.

Fouls and Penalties

An objection is announced in the following cases:

• an athlete goes to the fighting area after the referee’s command intentionally slowly;
• an athlete asks to obtain a time-out after he finds himself/herself in a disadvantaged position;
• an athlete behaves incorrectly towards the referee and his commands;
• an athlete keeps shouting loudly to fear or disorganize an opponent despite the referee’s command to stop it;
• an athlete spits a mouth guard or takes off the protective equipment intentionally during a fight;
• an athlete performs either personal or technical mistake.

At the same time, a warning is given to those athletes who:

• attack their opponents either before the referee’s command “Fight” or after the command “Stop”;
• use banned kicks and holds to beat their opponents;
• keep violating the same rules.

Thus, it is necessary to describe those situations when fighters are disqualified. It happens in the following cases:

• if an athlete has earned six penalty points, a victory is given to his/her opponents;
• an athlete keeps violating the serious rules, which can injure his/her opponent;
• an athlete is caught doping or imitate a painful condition.

Stopping a Fight

The referee can stop a fight in the following cases:

1. An athlete has fallen.
2. An athlete gets injured.
3. Athletes keep wrestling for more than two seconds.
4. Both athletes fail to start attacking actions, and one of them is passive for more than eight seconds.
5. The chief judge appears in the fighting area to settle some issues.
6. Any of the officials have noticed a danger.
7. Appropriate technical conditions arise.
8. An athlete is punished for violating the rules.

Determining Winner and Loser

When two opponents have earned the same number of points in their fight, a victory is given to one who:

• obtained the smallest number of objections;
• obtained the smallest number of warnings;
• is lighter than his/her opponent.

If all these parameters are similar, a draw is announced. In addition to that, an overall victory is given to an athlete who has managed to win in two rounds.

Fighting Area

This area is represented by a platform made of metal and wood with the following characteristics:

• eight meters wide;
• eight meters long;
• 60 cm high.

The given platform should be covered with a soft mat with an appropriate surface. A yin and yang diagram of one meter in diameter should be drawn in the center of the area. The borders of the platform are marked with the 5-cm-wide red line. The yellow warning line of 10 cm wide is drawn 90 cm from the platform edge. In addition to that, the platform should be surrounded by protective mats of 2 meters wide and around 50 cm thick for safety purposes.