‘Five Venoms’ action director jailed
Kung fu grandmaster and former fight choreographer Leung Ting has been sentenced to two months in jail in Hong Kong for attacking his girlfriend.
Leung is best known to genre film fans as an action director on several classic kung fu movies including THE CHINATOWN KID and THE FIVE VENOMS. He is also the founder of the International Wing Tsun Association.
Leung, 62, was released on HK$50,000 bail pending appeal. He was accused by his former girlfriend, Rita Lip Sik-ying, of banging her head against the floor, kicking her in the stomach and boxing her ears during a dispute over one of Leung’s former wives.
In testimony, Leung refuted the claims, stating that Lip had become angry after he refused to give her HK$50,000 for an abortion. He claimed she became hysterical and tried to jump out of a window so he grabbed her arm and neck to save her. He also claimed Lip hit her own head against the floor, banged on the neighbors’ doors and shouted, “Leung Ting is hitting a woman.”
In speaking to Hong Kong newspaper Sing Tao Daily, Lip, 45, described Leung as a womanizer who had many girlfriends.
This isn’t the first time Leung has been at the center of controversy. In 2005, he took a former pupil of 25 years to court over claims of copyright infringement related to the use of school logos.
Leung has also created controversy in the martial arts world by claiming to be the last closed-door student of Wing Chun master Yip Man and the head of the Wing Chun School. These claims have not been recognized by Yip Man’s family or students.
