CCSA Director Robert Cunningham Qualifies for US Team and the 2023 Kung Fu World Championships

Here at Clan Cunningham we would like to congratulate our US regional Director Robert Cunningham, for qualifying for the US Traditional Kung Fu team at the Golden State International Championships & 2022 US Team Trials. 

At now almost 6’4 inches tall, Robert, despite still being in his teens, is currently, the world’s tallest Kung Fu athlete.

Clan Cunningham understands that this year’s Golden State Internationals, which were held in Fremont in California, was the largest in the events history, with over one thousand competitors competing in person with another circa 700 competitors competing online.

Robert Cunningham has already represented the US. This was at the 8^th World Kung Fu Championships in China, which was held in 2019, just prior to the outbreak of Covid. He has also acted as sword bearer for Clan Cunningham at the Pleasanton Scottish Highland Games.

At the same competition Kendi Cunningham won three gold medals in the Elementary Long Fist, Beginner Straight Sword and Beginner Staff events.

The World Championships, which Robert qualified for, are the largest Kung Fu championships in the world, with several thousand competitors gathering in one place to compete. Kung Fu, as an international sport, is growing rapidly, with the quality of the practitioner outside of China growing rapidly. Wushu (which is the Chinese word for Kung Fu) recently appeared as an invitational event at the 2022 World Games, which took place in Birmingham, Alabama.

However, though it was announced that Wushu would be included as an official sport at the 2022 Youth Olympic Games in Dakar, these games were cancelled and the inclusion of the event will now be delayed to the year 2026, meaning many competitive athletes will age out, and not be able to compete in the event they had worked so hard to qualify for. This being a common problem that has many young athletes have sadly experienced.