Martial Art Institute

Summer of 2001 was a real pleasant moment - a call out of blue from the BBC asking Master Wai-Po Tang to enter for an audition.

This audition was for a new television programme called 'Masters of Combat' - a six episode series. It is a martial game show whereby contestants compete to win the 'Sword of Enlightenment'. Masters of Combat was commissioned by the BBC, and Metorn, a reputable documentary and games show programme maker masterminded the new series.

Masters of Combat has a central theme of the mystical ancient martial art masters demonstrating the epitome of martial skills. The demonstration occurs at the beginning of each game. There are 8 games per episode.

There were real-life masters of combat from all different styles entered for the auditions. The BBC were interested to select six main masters with outstanding qualities to star in this new ground-breaking martial art games show. After a series of auditions, Master Tang was chosen to play a starring role as one of the 6 main masters.

Initially Wai-Po thought he did not get the part, as he had the flu and was suffering from chest infection, and thought he had performed badly. The programmer of Masters of Combat called a week later and asked Wai Po to attend the final audition at Tottenham Court Road, London.

This time Wai Po Tang was ready and fit to perform at the finals, hence immediately the next day, Wai Po had a call to confirm a starring role as a main master 'SAT-SAU' (deadly hand) in the new TV series Masters of Combat. more on masters of combat

Master Wai-Po Tang with TV presenter Gail Porter, and
artists Chloe Bruce and Jamie Cho