Wing Tsjun Kung Fu - Lineage
Grandmaster Yip Man
Yip Man (1893-1972) was the last student that Chan Wa Shun accepted as he was 70 years of age already. After his death three years later, Chan's student Ng Chung Sok took over teaching the young Yip Man. During his time as a student at the St. Steven's Catholic School in Hong Kong, he met Leung Bik, one of Leung Jan's sons. There are lots of stories about this meeting. The most popular one says that Leung entered into a fight with Yip without disclosing his identity to him. Yip was defeated and asked Leung to become his teacher, even though he didn't know who he was.
After completing his studies in Hong Kong Yip Man went back to China, where he worked as a police officer and taught the Police forces in close-combat.
During this time he killed someone while on duty and had to run away from retaliation of the communist regime back to Hong Kong, where he started earning a living by teaching Wing Tsjun.
Through his old friend, the Hung Sang Choi Lay Fut teacher Chung Choui he obtained a training hall and there he met Leung Sheung (1918-1978), who was Cheung Choui's student at the time. He challenged Yip Man to a friendly fight and got defeated, after which he asked him if he could become his first student. Yip Man accepted and after that him and two of Leung Sheung's acquaintances, Lok Liu and Tsui Sheung Tin formed Yip Man's first Wing Tsjun class in Hong Kong.
It is very difficult now to say how many students Yip Man had over the years. The most famous though was the actor Bruce Lee / Lee Jun Fun (1940-1973), who left Hong Kong at the age of 18 and ended up making a huge career as an actor in the US.
Grandmaster Leung Ting
Leung Ting (1947- today) is Yip Man's last student. Allegedly he was also taught by Leung Sheung but he withdrew that during a press conference. Leung Ting started learning Wing Tsjun at the age of 13. His form of Wing Tsjun is very different from all other Yip Man's students. That could be explained by the fact that he was taught by him as GM Yip was very old and ill and no longer able to apply techniques with force and therefore use softness and sensitivity. A lot of this is just speculation though.
Leung Ting is the Head of IWTA (International Wing Tsun Association), the biggest WT organization nowadays with schools all over the world.
He lives in Hong Kong and teaches internationally.
Grandmaster Keith R. Kernspecht
Keith Ronald Kernspecht (1949- today) is Leung Ting's highest student and his representative in Europe. He has brought a significant contribution to the spreading and developing of WT worldwide and he now runs the European arm of IWTA in Germany. His organization EWTO has lots of students in Europe and used to have its headquarters at the Langenzell Castle in Wiesenbach by Heidelberg.
Kernspecht was the one who brought the chinese art from Hong Kong to Germany in 1976 and with this to the rest of the world.
Keith R. Kernspecht was Thommy L. Boehlig's first Si-Fu. From 1991 until 2005 Boehlig trained under the EWTO. He became a 4th level teacher, received the prestigious Si-Fu title of honor and the nomination as the National head instructor for Scotland. Boehlig completed the empty handed program under Kernspecht and trained in the long pole program before he chose to leave the EWTO and begin a new relationship with Allan W. Fong.
Grandmaster Allan Fong
Allan Wai Fong / Fong Wai Hung (1951- today) was one of Leung Ting's students in Hong Kong. In the 1980's he left Hong Kong as a 6th Master Level and moved to the USA. There he split from IWTA and had a few attempts to open schools. In 2005 he decided to start a cooperation with Thommy Luke Boehlig and together they founded the organization called Wing Tsjun International. Boehlig learned from him the double knives and Fong obtained information on the empty-handed Wing Tsjun from Boehlig. They ran the organisation together until 2006 when Allan Fong recognized Boehlig as Dai Sifu, which made him independent.
Grandmaster Thommy Luke Böhlig
Started in '91. His teachers include GM Kernspecht, Emin Boztepe, Stefan Fischer, Hans-Peter Edel, & Thomas Schroen. In '02 awarded title of “Sifu of WingTsun”. Level 4 Instructor in EWTO. In '05 Founded Martial Arts Int'l with Allan Fong & Emmanuel Hart (Eskrima).
Who has not dreamt of turning a hobby into a profession? For GM Thommy Luke Böhlig and some of his students the dream became a reality. At the Leichlingen and Langenfeld academies you have the opportunity to be trained properly by GM Thommy Luke Böhlig and the highest ranking Wing Tsjun instructors personally to become a Wing Tsjun instructor and / or school owner yourself. Thus you have the guarantee of the highest standards in the organization. As well as the daily classes, the instructor training program also includes all exams up until instructor level in Wing Tsjun, Kids Kung-Fu and Prevention Program which are all to be taken at the location. The Wing Tsjun Mastery program consists of the grading curriculum for Wing Tsjun, the Kids Kung-Fu belts curriculum and the Boehlig Defence System Prevention Program.
Sifu Premil Naveendra
In 1988 when Sifu Naveendra was around 13 years old he began his martial art life by practicing Budokan Karate. Later he wanted to learn the best of martial arts, so he did some research and found out that the chinese art of Wing Chun would suit him best. He then practiced several years under many teachers who were famous for teaching Wing Chun in Sri Lanka. But finally he realized that there was something missing, that he couldn’t apply the things he had learnt in street fight situations. He was disappointed and had the impression he had just wasted years of his life. After a while he heard of a teacher who had officially stopped teaching Wing Chun and had a good reputation in the Wing Chun community. It turned out that that very teacher was Sifu Ajith De Silva, the man who introduced Wing Chun Kung-Fu to Sri Lanka.
Sifu Naveendra visited Sifu De Silva, asked him to become his disciple and got accepted. He began his training as Sifu De Silva 's private student in 2001. He trained an average of 6 hours per day on 7 days a week. Sifu Ajith passed on his knowledge and experience to Sifu Naveendra without any hesitation and future expected gain. After two years of training his teacher asked him to pass his knowledge to other people by conducting classes. He started teaching classes in several places in Sri Lanka including Anuradapura, Kotikawatta, Dehiwala and Ragama. Recently he opened his Colombo school.
He lives in Sri Lanka and teaches in Colombo and some other districts too.
Sifu Ajith De Silva always used to tell Premil that Wing Chun in other countries is well developed than ours so somehow try to go to such a country and learn more about Wing Chun. By accepting his words though Premil tried establishing a contact with some of the internationally recognized masters through E-mail, it was no use.
Meanwhile Premil got to know Grand Master Thommy Luke Boehlig through internet, who implemented the idea of coming to Sri Lanka and conducting a Wing Chun training programme & to a give further training to Premil which Premil totally didn’t expect. By that time Premil also had the idea of joining Grand Master Leung Ting Lineage & undergoing a further training. With Grand Master coming to Sri Lanka Premil was able make his idea a reality.
When in Sri Lanka Grand Master Thommy Luke Boehlig conducted Premil’s training programme and he was generous enough to offer the membership as the Sri Lankan representative of Wing Tsjun International which made Premil & his school the only internationally affiliated Wing Tsjun School in Sri Lanka.
In order to spread Wing Tsjun in Sri Lanka, Grand Master Thommy Luke Boehlig was helping lavishly without a moment of hesitation. To train under a Grand Master like Thommy Luke Boehlig who has such a commitment and a generosity towards Premil and the other Wing Tsjun practitioners in Sri Lanka, was the greatest achievement in Premil’s life.
