This November, the World Kuoshu (Kung-Fu) Championships were held in Singapore. Pitting the world's best martial artists against one another, the World Kuoshu Championships are the Chinese martial arts equivalent to the Olympics. Held every three to four years, only the best from each nation have earned the right to compete. And this year, with more than 37 countries in attendance, it was truly an international event with the winners indisputably the best in the world.

This past July, at the U.S. Kuoshu Championships, which served as the national qualifier, four of grandmaster Richard Lee's students repeated their 2003 performance and earned a spot on the United States National Kuoshu Team. Morgan Newman (Alamo), Morgan Malone (Alamo), Angie Dominguez (Lafayette) and Allen Parco (Dublin), earned the right to represent their country in Singapore. In doing so, they also helped Lee's West Coast Team win the Nationals for the sixth straight year, making East West the No. 1 school in the country. Master John Buckley, grandmaster Lee's top student and disciple, was named head coach for the U.S. squad for the second straight year.

It was certainly a combination of seasoned veterans and wide-eyed newcomers on this team, with four of the eight returning to the U.S. squad after competing at the last World Tournament held in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 2003.

Newman, Dominguez and Parco were looking to defend their world titles, while Malone got one more chance to better her second-place finish. Meghan Mannion (Martinez), Ashley Dong (San Jose), Gene Stein (Antioch) and Dennis Saenz (San Jose) also made the U.S. team and made their World Tournament debut. Grandmaster Lee's students earned eight of the 17 spots on the U.S. team, with the remaining spots earned by martial artists from around the country. If there was any American team ready to take on the world's best martial artists in Asia and win, it was undoubtedly this one.

On the weekend of Nov. 9-10, the United States Kuoshu Team attempted an unprecedented feat: to take first-place overall in the team championships. Attempting this in Asia, the birthplace of martial arts, was seemingly an impossible achievement. But the Americans didn't think so. In fact, they believed their team was talented enough to win it all.

And as it happened, their results were nothing short of extraordinary.

At the end of the tournament seven Americans, five of which were Grandmaster Lee's students, were crowned World Champions. Newman, Malone, Dominguez, Parco and Dong all took home the gold. Mannion and Saenz earned silver and Stein took fourth.

Malone also won overall female competitor of the tournament. For the first time ever, the U.S. took first place in the overall team championships, beating out host city Singapore (second) and former champion Brazil (third).

Aiding the U.S. effort was a large contingent of grandmaster Lee's students who flew halfway across the world to support the 8 U.S. team members and represented the United States on an unofficial basis.

Individual competitors in forms and weapons were, master Norma Futini (Concord), Art Panella (Danville), Aimee Jurewicz (Danville), David Curran (San Jose), Jennie Mitchell (Danville), Sean Gray (Martinez), Mike McCall (Danville) and Karen Silverman (Alamo) in the adult divisions. Melvin Hsieh (Alamo), Stuart and Jake Moore (Alamo), Whitney Berch (Walnut Creek), Zachary Chen (San Ramon), Jessica and Meghan Uno (Walnut Creek), Nicole Shimotake (Lafayette), Ethan Silverman (Alamo) and Wyatt McCall (Danville) were outstanding in the youth divisions, taking home many individual gold, silver, and bronze medals.