Wushu competitors at the 10th National Games yesterday had more than a medal to look forward to the martial arts genre will for the first time be included in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) sprung the pleasant surprise on wushu aficionados who had been pushing for the sport to be made an official event.

"There will be a wushu competition during the Olympic Games. It's not going to be one of the official 28 sports but we will organize with BOCOG (the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad) a wushu competition," said Rogge at the opening ceremony of the Sixth Art Exhibition of Sports in China in Nanjing yesterday morning.

When Beijing won the right to host the 2008 Games, proponents wanted wushu, one of the traditional sports in China to be listed as an Olympic sport for the home Games. The IOC turned down the proposal but kept the door open for it to be a representation sport.

But Rogge did not clarify if wushu will be regarded as a demonstration sport like taekwondo and tennis, which were earlier demonstration sports and have now become official events at Olympic Games.

While medals will be awarded for demonstration sports, they will not count towards the official tally of nations.

In 2002, the IOC decided to cap the number of Olympic sports at 28.

(China Daily October 14, 2005)