Tania Sakanaka

Dr Tania Sakanaka is a sports science academic [1] and a Brazilian tai chi athlete,[2] who has won various national and international championships.

Tania Sakanaka


Early life

Dr Sakanaka was born in Brazil to Hawaiian mother (Chinese/Japanese ancestry) and a Brazilian father (Japanese ancestry).

Career and research

Tai chi (taijiquan)

Tania started training in tai chi in 1995, with Prof. Marcelo Martinelli, in the extension course offered by the Faculty of Physical Education of State University of Campinas, Brazil.[2] Next, she moved to China in 2004 (the country of origin of wushu) for further training at Beijing Sport University under the supervision of masters including Li Yanjun, Zong Weijie, Hauang Kanghui and Wang Xiaona.

Tania became an athlete for the Brazilian Kungfu Wushu National Team since 2003.[2] Apart from successfully competing in various international tai chi competitions, Dr Sakanaka has been teaching tai chi for 16 years as in 2018.

Research

Her masters research (2009) looked at tai chi (taijiquan) pelvic rotational movement in Yang style louxiaobu, under the supervision of Prof Xu Weijun at Beijing Sport University, China.[3]

Tania completed her doctoral research titled 'Causes of variation in intrinsic ankle stiffness and the consequences for standing' from the University of Birmingham in 2017 under the supervision of Dr Martin Lakie and Dr Raymond Reynolds.[1] [4] Her PhD research has produced two peer reviewed papers so far.[5] [6]

In media

In an interview after a tearful emotional medal ceremony on winning Brazil's first taolu gold medal in the women's baguazhang, Tania smiled and said “It’s really good, I’m just happy about it. I think everybody who represents Brazil, everybody who represents their country, you see the flag and you hear the national anthem being played, and its really good. I think every athlete goes through this. There’s so much work behind every performance that you do, it just comes out in different ways.”[7]

Achievements
Tania Sakanaka with her gold medal posing with her friends at home.

2015 13th World Wushu Championships (Indonesia) - won gold in the Women's Baguazhang event[8][9]

2014 The 1st World Taijiquan Championships (China) - Winner of Women's Group B Wu Style Taijijian Traditional Routine [10]

2008 The 3rd World Traditional Wushu Championship - Winner of Female Group C Other Tai jiquan [11]

2006 The 2nd World Traditional Wushu Championships - Winner of Female Group A and B Taiji Apparatus [12]

References
  1. "Tania Emi Sakanaka". University of Birmingham. Retrieved 3 January 2017.
  2. "Atleta Tania Sakanaka é um dos destaques do taiji nacional". Confederacao Brasileira De Kung Fu/Wushu. Retrieved 3 January 2017.
  3. "Tania Emi Sakanaka's masters thesis". Retrieved 11 January 2018.
  4. "Tania Emi Sakanaka's PhD thesis". University of Birmingham eThesisRepository. July 2017. Retrieved 11 January 2018.
  5. Sakanaka, Tania (2016). "Sway-dependent changes in standing ankle stiffness caused by muscle thixotropy". The Journal of Physiology. 594 (3): 781–793. doi:10.1113/JP271137. PMC 4988472. PMID 26607292.
  6. Sakanaka, Tania (2018). "Intrinsic ankle stiffness during standing increases with ankle torque and passive stretch of the Achilles tendon". PLOS One. 13 (3): e0193850. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0193850. PMC 5860743. PMID 29558469.
  7. "The 13th World Wushu Championships -- Jakarta, Indonesia". International Wushu Federation. 2016-01-19. Retrieved 3 January 2017.
  8. "Table & Results - 13th World Wushu Championships 2015 Jakarta - Indonesia".
  9. "Delegação Brasileira Retorna Após Participação Memorável no 13º Campeonato o Mundial de Wushu". CBKW. Retrieved 3 January 2017.
  10. "The 1st World Taijiquan Championships, 2014" (PDF). International Wushu Federation. Retrieved 3 January 2017.
  11. "The 3rd World Traditional Wushu Championship" (PDF). International Wushu Federation. Retrieved 3 January 2017.
  12. "The 2nd World Traditional Wushu Championships" (PDF). International Wushu Federation. Retrieved 3 January 2017.
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