GBA martial arts association sees Macau as a gateway to the world

From left: Carlos Rui Marcelo, Liu Yong, Mario Lameiras

The Greater Bay Area Martial Arts and Culture Association recently held its first event in the city, aiming to take the advantage of Macau and its specificities in linking and integrating several cultures to expand a relatively new, but with a peaking interest, martial art competition, the Wu Lin Feng (WLF).
Owned by the television broadcaster Henan Television (HNTV), the WLF, a mix martial art form that combines techniques and regulations coming from other fighting forms such as Wushu, Sanda, mixed martial arts (MMA), Muay Thai, and Kickboxing, among others, is the longest-running martial arts television show in China, running since 2004.
To the Times, in an exclusive interview, the association vice-chairman, Carlos Rui Marcelo, explained that the event held in late January at the Studio City not only served to launch officially the association after the year 2020 in which the restrictions related to the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted the majority of the association plans, but also to present the program to the private and official entities in Macau.
“They received the event very well, especially the government departments such the Macau Government Tourism Office and the Sports Bureau,” Marcelo said, adding, “Although we had limitations [related with the pandemic] in organizing the event, it was a great event with a fantastic turnout in terms of viewership.”
According to the information from the association that quotes data from the Henan Television (HNTV), the bouts in Macau were watched in more than 50 countries with a total viewership reaching 500 million.
Since 2007, the competition has become more international in nature, bringing challengers from other countries and having bouts broadcasted from several different countries including Germany, New Zealand, and the United States.
Participants have included Kickboxing K-1 fighters, MMA professionals, Muay Thai fighters, and Wushu and Sanda practitioners.
In 2013, it was ranked among the top 100 most viewed satellite and cable television programs in China, according to a report from Chinese news agency Xinhua.
From 2017, the championship has finally reached the international starlight with the first truly international championship, hosted in Canada.
platform for
Lusophone countries
During the interview with the board members of the association, the chairman, Liu Yong, highlighted the fact that the association aims not only to reach expansion and an audience within the GBA but also take the opportunity allowed by Macau’s role to reach other international markets, such as the Portuguese-speaking countries.
Liu explained that besides pure martial arts, the events are perfect opportunities to disclose more of the Chinese culture to the world, being Macau the perfect “name card” to help on such a task.
On the topic, the also vice-chairman of the association, Mario Lameiras, added that more than just disclosing Chinese culture, the association aims to help disclose elements from different cultures, including the ones from Portugal and the Portuguese-
speaking countries.
“We are thinking to include, for example, performances and other aspects that involve the lusophone culture in the events such as dancing and music. We can do that in several moments, including the break times between bouts, etc.,” Lameiras further explained recalling that all the event is being broadcasted to a wide worldwide audience.

2021 plan with 3 events,
including a Grand Finale
Addressing the activities plan of the association for this year, Liu noted that three events are being prepared.
“Although we are still conditioned by the pandemic situation, we have three events planned. The first will take place tentatively in May or June and a second one is expected to take place in October. For the final one, it will happen right at the end of 2021 or in the early days of 2022,” the chairman said adding that the association hopes to include at least two fighters representing Macau in these events.
For this purpose, the association has already established a partnership across the border that created a training center and academy, where fighters can be trained to participate in the tournaments and championships.
“The training center is located in Zhuhai and for the time being we have 35 fighter training regularly at the academy but the plan is to raise this number to about 100 within next year,” Liu said.
Lameiras also noted that besides fighting and physical training, the academy has also the purpose to train referees and ring judges that will also be part of the development of the activity in Macau and around GBA.

Added ambitions for 2022
If the 2021 plan seems to be already ambitious, the ideas for 2022 go even further. Liu said that in 2022 the association aims to organize, together with their promoting partners “The Top of Hengqin” and “Wulinfen Global Kung Fu,” one event per month, including tournaments in different weight categories and a final championship which will be a ‘Champion of Champions’ style event, in which the winners of previous tournaments will compete for the main title.
On the topic, Lameiras added, “The goal is always to raise the level of the competition and the fighters as well as contribute more for the disclosure of the multi-culturalism of Macau as well as the bonds created all over the world. In a way, we also following on the ‘Belt & Road initiative established by the central government.”
The Greater Bay Area Martial Arts and Culture Association was created in September 2019.