Sifu Aidan Canavan is a 5 th HG Wing Tsun practitioner with the European Wing Tsun Organisation.
He has held the position of treasurer and executive member of the Irish Martial Arts Commission and is currently an executive member of Wushu Ireland (Treasurer and Childrens Officer).
Aidan began training in the Leung Ting Wing Tsun system in 1987 with the BWTO (British/Irish Wing Tsun Organisation) under Sifu Nick Smart 5 th PG and later transferred to the EWTO in 1999 under Dai-Sifu Rainer Tausend 7 th HG with whom he still trains with today.
Grand Master Leung Ting was a student of the late Grand Master Yip Man in Hong Kong and developed his own unique teaching methods to make it more accessible to the western world.
His goal has been to learn the complete traditional Wing Tsun system and to make it available in Ireland to all who wish to study this unique system of martial art training. This has involved travelling to the UK, Germany, France, Bulgaria, Hong Kong and China and training with many high graded instructors of the EWTO along with Si-Gung Keith Kernspecht 10 th HG and Grand Master Leung Ting. He has organised seminars in Ireland for
Grand Master Leung Ting and many other Wing Tsun instructors and hosts seminars and gradings on a regular basis throughout the year with his sifu Dai-Sifu Tausend who is Chief Instructor for the EWTO in Ireland. The EWTO is the largest Wing Tsun Kung Fu organisation in the world. Being a member has allowed him to draw from an immense pool of knowledge of martial arts and access to many highly qualified Wing Tsun Masters and Grand Masters. While the traditional Wing Tsun system as taught by GM Yip Man and GM Leung Ting is at its roots the EWTO strive to continue to develop it to make it more relevant to the modern environment. It has developed specific programmes aimed at younger practitioners through “Kids WingTsun”, grappling/ground fighting, weapons-based training through Newman Escrima etc.
As members of the Irish Martial Arts Commission and Wushu Ireland he hopes to continue the promotion and development of Wing Tsun Kung Fu in Ireland.
Contact - treasury@wushuireland.ie , wingtsunireland@hotmail.com
