Community Life

At the end of May thousands of martial artists poured into the Excel London for the annual martial arts expo, Seni 07.

The exhibition hosted the very first international Wushu Open with hundreds of competitors from around the world coming to show-off their skills.

This year the event was attended by the Director of Wushu Academy UK, Mr Wu Bin. Not only a master of the Chinese sport, but teacher to the action star Jet Li.

In an exclusive interview with BBC London, Mr Wu Bin revealed his aspirations for Wushu to become an official Olympic sport in time for the London 2012 games.

"We were told by the Chairman of the Olympic committee, if we want Wushu to become an Olympic sport, you've got to have at least 80 countries to join...we now have more than 100 countries ....[and] we're working towards the Olympics in 2012."

A Wushu tournament will feature in the Beijing Olympics in 2008 with participants from only 25 countries competing. It's hoped that in five years the sport will have competitors from all nations taking part. Watch a report featuring Mr Wu Bin as he opened a new Wushu school in Leyton by clicking on the link above.