Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Fighter Arrested

South Carolina -- A 27-year-old Myrtle Beach MMA fighter was recently arrested and charged with first-offense criminal domestic violence, according to thesunnews.com.

Conway Police said officers went to a home on January 10. A woman told the officers that the man, her ex-boyfriend, had called her numerous times that day threatening to kill her and to burn down her house.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Intructor Loses Job

Pennsylvania -- A 48-year-old Penn Hills man has recently been removed from his volunteer teaching position.

The man was allegedly teaching martial arts to children as part of a program funded by a $10,000 Pittsburgh city grant: A free taekwondo program, called "Martial Artists Against Street Violence".

It has been revealed the man has a criminal past. He reportedly spent 18 months in jail after pleading guilty to drug charges in 2006, according to post-gazette.com.

Saturday, January 09, 2010

Domestic Violence

Florida -- A 51-year-old Orlando City Council candidate has been ordered by a judge to stay away from a former girlfriend. The woman has accused him of domestic violence, according to orlandosentinel.com.

The man claimed he was the one being assaulted and that he had not defended himself. The judge seemed skeptical of the man's statement, given his 20+ years of martial arts training.

It is not the first time the man has been facing allegations of domestic violence. So far, he has not been convicted of any crimes. The man has previously been arrested at least three times after incidents involving two former wives. The man has said both former wives fabricated the allegations.

Arnis, Now National Sport

Philippines -- President Arroyo recently signed a law declaring arnis as the national martial art and sport in the Philippines. The law reportedly also mandates that an arnis competitions is to be played first at the annual national games.

Up until now, arnis (also called kali or escrima) has often plays second fiddle to other non-Filipino martial arts such as judo, taekwondo and karate in terms of prominence, according to sports.inquirer.net.

Hong Kong Fu

China -- A kung fu grandmaster and a lawyer engaged in what was classified as "childish squabbling" that allegedly threatened to end in violence on May 28, 2009.

The kung fu master was arrested after allegedly threatening to beat up a lawyer on a crowded Hong Kong bus.

The argument between the two was said to have started after the lawyer's young daughter allegedly kicked the kung fu master a third time, according to thestandard.com.hk.

Karate Trouble in India

India -- The All India Karate Do Federation dismissed its former president (Karate Thiagarajan) on December 28 2009, for allegedly misappropriating funds.

The annual general body reportedly authorised the secretary general to take what was referred to as "appropriate legal action" against the former president as well as the former treasurer.

Thursday, January 07, 2010

Nunchaku Painting

China -- Way cool (and finally a worthwhile usage for the usually daft "numb-nuts")!

Anyhow, here's a young street painter in Beijing, who reportedly is creating a sketch of legendary Bruce Lee. He's seen in this picture using nunchaku dipped in paint.

Paint fu for sure! And what better way to combine two arts...