Dr Tania Sakanaka is a sports science academic and a Brazilian taijiquan athlete.[1][2] At the 2015 World Wushu Championships, she became the inaugural world champion in women's baguazhang.[3]
Tania Sakanaka | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Occupation(s) | Academic, athlete, martial artist |
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Women's Wushu Taolu | ||
Representing  Brazil
| ||
| World Wushu Championships | ||
 |
2015 Jakarta | Baguazhang |
Early life
editDr Sakanaka was born in Brazil to Hawaiian mother (Chinese/Japanese ancestry) and a Brazilian father (Japanese ancestry).
Career and research
editCompetitive wushu
editTania 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] She became a double medalist at the World Traditional Wushu Championships and a silver medalist at the 1st World Taijiquan Championships in 2014.[4][5][6] A year later, she competed in the 2015 World Wushu Championships in Jakarta, Indonesia, and became the world champion in women's baguazhang.[7][8][9]
Academic career
editThe focus of Dr Sakana's research is biomechanics. 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.[10]
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][11] Her PhD research has produced two peer reviewed papers so far (on 2018).[12][13]
Following her post-doctoral work [14] at State University of Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil, She is currently working at Manchester Metropolitan University researching about biomechanism in children with cerebral palsy (on 2023).
References
edit- ^ a b "Tania Emi Sakanaka". University of Birmingham. Retrieved 3 January 2017.
- ^ a b c "Atleta Tania Sakanaka é um dos destaques do taiji nacional". Confederacao Brasileira De Kung Fu/Wushu. Retrieved 3 January 2017.
- ^ "The 13th World Wushu Championships -- Jakarta, Indonesia". International Wushu Federation. 2016-01-19. Retrieved 3 January 2017.
- ^ "The 1st World Taijiquan Championships, 2014" (PDF). International Wushu Federation. Retrieved 3 January 2017.
- ^ "The 3rd World Traditional Wushu Championship" (PDF). International Wushu Federation. Retrieved 3 January 2017.
- ^ "The 2nd World Traditional Wushu Championships" (PDF). International Wushu Federation. Retrieved 3 January 2017.
- ^ "Table & Results - 13th World Wushu Championships 2015 Jakarta - Indonesia".
- ^ "Delegação Brasileira Retorna Após Participação Memorável no 13º Campeonato o Mundial de Wushu". CBKW. Retrieved 3 January 2017.
- ^ Gabriela, Villen (2019-05-31). "Unicamp é referência em Artes Marciais Chinesas" [Unicamp is a reference in Chinese Martial Arts]. University of Campinas (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2021-08-03.
- ^ "Tania Emi Sakanaka's masters thesis". Retrieved 11 January 2018.
- ^ Sakanaka, Tania Emi (July 2017). Tania Emi Sakanaka's PhD thesis. University of Birmingham eThesisRepository (d_ph). Retrieved 11 January 2018.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Sakanaka, Tania (2018). "Intrinsic ankle stiffness during standing increases with ankle torque and passive stretch of the Achilles tendon". PLOS ONE. 13 (3): e0193850. Bibcode:2018PLoSO..1393850S. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0193850. PMC 5860743. PMID 29558469.
- ^ Almeida, LV; Fukuchi, CA; Sakanaka, TE; Cliquet, A Jr. (2021-10-27). "A low-cost easily implementable physiotherapy intervention clinically improves gait implying better adaptation to lower limb prosthesis: a randomized clinical trial". Scientific Reports. 11 (1): 21228. Bibcode:2021NatSR..1121228A. doi:10.1038/s41598-021-00686-9. PMC 8551177. PMID 34707169.