It’s a Hat Trick of Gold Medals at the 2025 Can-Am Martial Arts Championships

There was reason to celebrate this weekend with Chantelle Lui and Leanne Yu at the Can-Am International Martial Arts Championships. Representing our storied club as an all-female duo, their dedication to the art of Choy Lee Fut kung fu was on full display, netting 3 gold medals.

With other talented martial artists either out of town or unavailable for this year’s edition of the tournament, both Leanne and Chantelle stepped up their training to represent Chau Luen Athletics. They worked tirelessly with Sifu Michael Tan and his disciples on their technique, speed, and stamina. In the end, the three gold medals were well-earned, and both are eager to compete again in the future.

Chantelle wins gold in her first attempt

Though initially nervous and hesitant about competing in a tournament for the first time, Chantelle took it in stride and began a training regimen like never before. Attending extra classes to get as much work in as possible with her instructors, she was often the first one in and last one out of practice.

“I was pretty nervous, but I think it’s a good experience to just do it,” she reflected. With no prior experience in martial arts or family lineage, it was up to her hard work to take her instructors’ feedback and turn it into a medal-winning performance.

Sifu Michael Tan, who has been involved in martial arts for over 25 years, was also impressed by Chantelle’s consistent improvement.

“Diamonds are made from pressure and Chantelle's made so much progress in preparing for this competition that she's come out looking like a showpiece at Tiffany's.”

Chantelle chose to focus on one form for the tournament, soeng caap zai (雙插仔), a double dagger set. The long, flowing sweeps of the daggers and incredibly fast pace of her moves greatly impressed the judges.

In the end, she took home the gold medal, but remains hungry for more next time around.

“Next year, I’ll consider competing with more forms. Since it was my first competition, I wanted to concentrate on one set, but I’m definitely thinking of entering in more categories next year.”

Leanne double dips with two gold medals

Leanne doubled her medal totals from the 2024 Can Am Martial Arts Championship, where she took home a gold medal for the short weapon category for females ages 35 and over. This year, she defended her crown with her rendition of soeng caap zai (雙插仔). In addition, she also captured gold in the empty hand category with siu mui faa (小梅花).

She performed her dagger set at a previous tournament and captured a medal before, but she really zeroed in on her technique this time around to score even higher than previously.

Still, the nerves were there, seeing as there was an expectation to not only defend her title but go beyond that. This was especially true as she was competing in the empty hand category for the first time.

“I was pretty nervous going in, but I was able to just calm my mind, lock in, and just know that the kung fu was already within.”

Plenty of practice time was devoted to her siu mui faa set, as it was a much longer form with more complex moves. But the practice paid off in a big way with a very strong performance. All of her motions flowed beautifully from one move to the next. Each strike and block was thrown with purpose and her stances were solid throughout. All of that together resulted in a second gold medal and cheers from the other Chau Luen Athletics members who had come out to support.

“Stances don’t just make up the fundamentals of a form like siu mui faa; they are where power and speed in strikes are derived from. Leanne’s strong fundamentals prove that it is “boring” stances that make for good kung fu.”

Nearly grabs non-instructor Grand Championship

Because of her two gold medal performances in her category, Leanne qualified for the overall 18+ Female Non-Instructor’s Grand Championship. The winner of this (and the big trophy) is chosen by having the most gold medals in their division.

Even though Leanne earned two gold medals, it wasn’t enough. It resulted in a tie with Rachel, a member of Bak Mei kung fu. With the tournament rules stating that both would have to demonstrate a form of their choice as a tiebreaker, both competitors had to quickly warm up to show the judges their best form one last time.

Leanne’s form of choice: daggers. It was her best chance of winning. However, it would prove to be an uphill battle as the other competitor was in a higher division, having 7 years of experience under her belt compared to Leanne’s 2 and a half. But she wasn’t phased and welcomed the challenge, ready to give it her all in representing our club.

With a few minutes of warming up and a couple practices, she took the stage one more time. With five judges watching, Leanne gave what ended up being her strongest performance of the day. The daggers slashed across her body with perfectly executed jumps and kicks, leaving each member of our team impressed with their jaws to the floor.

We had all seen her in practice, slowly improving with every class, but this “final boss” form was truly something else. Shawn, one of the disciples, remarked that the performance would have been enough to compete in the higher division.

Rachel performed next with an advanced empty-hand form. Her Bak Mei style was different from ours, but everyone knew it was nearly flawless. Her stances were strong, her movements were crisp, and there were no visible mistakes. Sifu Michael, who recused himself from judging, shook his head and uttered three words that gave us hope, though.

“It’s really close.”

We all stood and watched the judges. Each one was to secretly point left or right to who they felt was the winner.

Tension filled the air as the lead judge prepared the grand championship trophy. “And the winner of the female 18+ non-instructor championship is…”

“Rachel. Final score, 3-2.”

While our hearts sank briefly, we were all so proud of what Leanne accomplished. Competing against someone who was over 10 years younger than she was, who had more than twice the experience than she did, and taking her to within one point of winning was one of the greatest achievements possible. While it would have been nice to add a third grand championship to the Chau Luen Athletics trophy case (one each for Shawn and Kyle), we all celebrated as if she had won the whole thing.

Leanne hopes to compete again in future years at a higher level, ready to take on any challengers and hopefully take home a grand championship trophy.

Future competitors inspired

As Chau Luen Athletics continues to grow, the next generation of competitors has taken notice of their success.

Jonathan Lee has been training martial arts for over 7 years, but has never formally competed. The closest he came was being recommended for a tournament before pulling out due to injury. He attended this year’s tournament, but his only involvement was the lion dance at the beginning.

“I’m so proud of what Chantelle and Leanne have accomplished and it inspires me to make up for that tournament all those years ago and compete”, he said. “I’ve really got to step up my training but I think I’ll be ready to go for gold next year. If you ain’t first, you’re last!”.

Ellen Lee, who joined through a recommendation from Chantelle, want to follow the footsteps of her Sije (師姐).

“It was very inspiring to see my friend's courage to compete in a competition where most of the athletes have many more years of experience. As a beginner, I think it can be daunting to see yourself next to the experts—especially for anyone who is starting any new sport or activity as an adult. She trained extremely hard and her win is well-deserved!”

Join Chau Luen Athletics and learn award-winning kung fu

Interested in competing with us someday? Our instructors have years of experience and plenty of accolades from across Canada and around the world. Whether you have previous martial arts experience or are starting from scratch, our classes are a perfect opportunity to try out traditional Choy Lee Fut kung fu.

Right now, we are offering free trial classes for both adults and children, so you can register and see if it’s a good fit for you. We’re excited to have you join us (and maybe win some medals with us in the future!).

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