Wong learns to look at pandemic through unfiltered lens

Southeast Asian Games champion Agatha Wong says her sport has a lot to do in shaping her outlook in life. —EDWIN BACASMAS

Wushu poster girl Agatha Wong understands the plight of a population under the grip of a pandemic. And the last thing she wants to do is minimize the problems faced by those weighed down by the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic—they fear the virus, they’re quarantined and they face an uncertain economic future with jobs frozen by the lockdown.

So even if she has learned to find personal silver linings in the quarantine measures placed to curb the spread of the pandemic, she knows that such an outlook comes looking at the situation through privileged personal lens.

“Honestly, I did think that … maybe this is a blessing in disguise,” Wong told the Inquirer.

“I thought, I’d have more time to prepare [for future endeavors], that I’d get to avoid [heavy] traffic. It was convenient,” she said. “I’m a homebody so staying at home is easy.”

More importantly, the lockdown gives her time to recuperate with niggling injuries she has battled throughout the apex of her success, where she won a bronze in the Asian Games in 2018 and two Southeast Asian Games gold medals the following year.

But her sport has blessed her with more than just grace and physical resilience.

“[Wushu] has given me the gift of observation … and patience,” she said.

Thus, Wong has learned to keep tabs of the situation from an unfiltered point of view so she can continue educating herself while trying to remain in tip-top shape.

The introspection has also taught Wong that “not everyone is taking the situation the same way … People don’t believe how grave a situation is until it’s already happening to them.”

Wong said it’s imperative

to provide a voice for the voiceless in these extraordinary times.

And it is something she has done a lot of times on social media, speaking out on issues of race when she has to. And when the need arises, come to the aid of people who need help the most.

Wong joined the fight against the pandemic by launching a fundraiser with fellow SEA Games champion and Olympic-eyeing karateka Jamie Lim.

“Ever since I started doing sports, I’ve always thought I was never going to be just an athlete,” said Wong, a graduate of St. Benilde’s Consular and Diplomatic Affairs Program who said she is entertaining plans of becoming a lawyer someday. INQ