Wushu set for Olympic debut

The 2008 Beijing Olympics will have wushu, a traditional Chinese sport, as a competitive event for the first time, though medals awarded will not be counted in the official tally.

The president of the International Olympic Committee Jacques Rogge sprang a pleasant surprise on wushu aficionados, who had been pushing for the sport to be made an official event, by making the announcement.

"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 organise with BOCOG (the Beijing Organising Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad) a wushu competition," Rogge said at the opening ceremony of the Sixth Art Exhibition of Sports in China in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu province.

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.

Wushu literally means "martial art".

But Rogge did not clarify if wushu will be regarded in the same vein as 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.