By SIOW YUEN CHING
PENANG: Standing 155cm tall, Pascale Schmied can bring down male opponents twice her size thanks to her Shaolin kungfu skills. The 25-year-old Swiss university student is not to be messed around with as she can also fight off attackers with her bare hands. Schmied, who stumbled upon the ancient martial art while learning tai chi in a private club in Geneva two years ago, said she was at first intrigued by the kungfu movements of Shaolin students. ” In the beginning, I got tired easily as the martial art involved vigorous physical strength and deep concentration, she said.
EAST MEETS WEST . . . Shaolin kungfu students from Geneva (from left) Fabien Graeppi, Michel Galli and Pascale Schmied demonstrate their skills in the Chinese martial arts at the Sao Lim Athletic Association.-Starpic by Goh Gaik Lee.
Schmied, who is studying Chinese language in University of Beijing, said learning Shaolin kungfu had helped her to be more disciplined and focused in her daily life. She is in Penang with two other fellow students for a two-month stint in advanced training under Datuk P’ng Chye Khim, the chief sifu of Penang Sao Lim Athletic Association in Muntri Street.
Incidentally, the Geneva club was founded by one of P’ng’s students (Ong Ming Thong) who was doing his post-graduate studies in a university there in the early 1990s. For fellow student Fabien Graeppi, 29, his love of the ancient discipline blossomed when he watched kungfu movies by Bruc e Lee during his childhood days. “I was fascinated by Bruce Lee’s skills in kungfu fighting but I only had a chance to learn the martial art about 10 years ago, he said. Graeppi, a motivational consultant in Geneva, said he learnt kungfu for self-defence and for physical, mental and spiritual development. As for Michel Galli, 35, he said Shaolin kungfu taught him to be strong in basic skills before learning how to fight. ” I have attended classes in other martial arts whereby I was taught how to fight even before I could master the basics, he said. Galli, who is studying Chinese and English literature in University of Beijing, has been practising Shaolin kungfu for the past eight years and is an assistant instructor in the club in Geneva.