After his old Sanshou team captain Cung Le & team member Melvin Guillard have won their MMA professional fights at UFC 148, Master Shawn Liu led a team of Sanda (Sanshou) fighters from his private institute to Orlando, Florida to participate in the 14th Annual International Chinese Martial Arts Championship World Wide Circuit and brought home 14 medals in various categories including Sanda, Kungfu forms and weapons.
The Shaolin Institute team of 12 competitors brought home 14 medals after competing in the 14th Annual International Chinese Martial Arts Championship in Orlando, Florida. Students under Grand Master Shawn Liu (Shi DeRu) from the Shaolin Institute are accustomed to not only performing in front of as many as 20 thousand spectators but also mesmerizing and captivating the eyes of audiences of national and international fighting events, such as his old US team captain Cung Le’s and senior team member Melvin Guillard’s extraordinary performances at UFC 148; Li Qiang’s and Chen Zhe’s performances in 2011 LEGENDS of KUNG-FU WORLD MARTIAL ARTS CHAMPIONSHIP; Shi Zhongqin’s incredible performance at 2010 Chinese International Martial Arts Championship World Wide Circuit; and the performances of Weal Karika Mohammed, Andy Ngo and Patrick Barry in many other international Sanshou fighting events.
These young masters and martial artists pit their skills against champions from all over the world; nothing will stop these champions from leaving behind a True Shaolin Legacy. Altogether they have brought home to the US hundreds of medals in the past 20 years from international Sanda/Sanshou kickboxing and Kungfu-Wushu championship events.
Shawn Liu, the Grand Master of the institute, who was given the name as “God Father of US Sanshou” by Kung Fu magazine and “Father of American Sanda” by CCTV networks, has been in the southeast area of the US since 1986. He is best known for his lineage as a descendant of the Shaolin Temple Spiritual Great Grand Master Monk Shi Suxi and is the only martial arts Master in the Southeastern part of the United States who has the full knowledge and experience that would lead students on a path to learn the esthetic ways of the traditional Shaolin Culture and Arts.
Master Shawn Liu led a team of Sanda (Sanshou) fighters from his private institute to Orlando, Florida to participate in the 14th Annual International Chinese Martial Arts Championship World Wide Circuit on July 13-15, 2012. With hundreds of competitors hailing from the United States and abroad, 12 competitors under Shawn Liu’s tutelage did not disappoint the audience and the Southeastern region they’ve come to represent. Among fighters, four of them won gold medals while one fighter got a silver medal. Other competitors competed in Tai Chi, Traditional Kung Fu–practiced by martial artists such as Jackie Chan, Jet Li, and Bruce Lee–and Sanshou/Sanda (Chinese Kickboxing), which is like Muay Thai but has extra combative wrestling and interception techniques. The following are the results of their competition:
Sanda Competition
Vlad Levenfeld won the light weight Title Belt in Sanda Kickboxing; Javonti Knockum won a middle weight division gold medal in Sanda Kickboxing; Chen Zhe won a feather weight division gold medal in Sanda Kickboxing; Ariel Haigler got a gold medal in semi-contact Sanda teen Kickboxing female division; and Brandon Harrell got a silver medal in teen Sanda Kickboxing division.
Bare Hand Fighting Forms and Weapons Competition
Breana McIntosh won a gold medal in traditional female teen weapons division & a bronze medal in traditional bare hand fighting forms division; Gabe Butler got a silver medal in boys’ traditional weapons division; Eleah Nokovich got a silver medal in traditional senior teen’s female weapons division and a bronze medal in bare hand female fighting form division; Josh Blue got a bronze medal in traditional male weapons division; Sunshine Hebert got a silver medal in Tai Chi female division & silver in bare hand traditional fighting form division; and Doug Bourgeois got a bronze medal in Tai Chi 24 form division.
Over the course of 20 years teaching in the United States, Grandmaster Shawn Liu, along with his Shaolin Institute, is continuously recognized by members of the Martial Arts World as the leading authority of Sanda/Sanshou Kickboxing. Grandmaster Liu has served as US National Head Coach for the World Wushu Sanda/Sanshou Championships for 10 years after being voted by over 80% of the fighters and all of the USAWKF board members in 1995. Since his arrival in the US in 1986, he has been training hundreds of US National Champions all over the country, which includes 5 World Champions.
