Why wushu ace Agatha Wong decided to study medicine

Asian Games and Southeast Asian Games medalist Agatha Wong is not only an athlete. While training for wushu, she is also a student in medical school.

Back in the 2023 SEA Games in Cambodia, Wong said she was even surprised about her gold medal performance as she was in medical school already by that time.

But why did she pursue medicine?

"During the pandemic, I started applying to med school, kasi I felt like I could relate med school to sports in a way, and I feel like 'yung interest ko talaga nasa sports talaga siya. So how can I amplify that and, you know, like, go beyond sports and into my career when I retire from sports? So medicine 'yung naisip ko," Wong said on the GMA Integrated News podcast 'Game On.'

Aside from relating to sports, Wong, who has a degree in diplomatic affairs, also related training in wushu to studying medicine.

"'Yung med school kasi and college, it's really different. Kasi nu'ng college, I thought I was a textbook reader because I used to read a lot and I was doing really well in college. When I went to med school, I couldn't really retain any of the information even if I read it a lot of times. I realized na I was a visual, I was a visual... I was a visual person," she said.

"Like, when I remember a picture, I remember where the letters are and I think I can owe it to wushu kasi wushu is very visual, like, you have to really visualize everything sa wushu. So na-apply ko siya sa med school."

On top of medical school, Wong said she is still training for three upcoming international tournaments.

Listen to the full episode of the podcast:

—JKC, GMA Integrated News