Rafael Matute
Praying Mantis Shifu
The information presented in this chart was collected from different sources -see Bibliography-, therefore the romanizations in Pinyin according to the Mandarin pronunciation of the characters sometimes is not available. If you find any mistakes or inaccuracies please contact me.
Born in Venezuela his main teacher is shifu Su Yu Zhang and shifu Rafael Matute currently holds a black sash 6th Tuan.
He started training in Caracas, Venezuela in September 1976 and he has followed shifu Su Yu Zhang since then; learning Tang Lang Quan, Xing Yi Quan, Ba Gua Zhang and Ba Ji Quan. He moved to the USA and currently lives in the Florida area.
Shifu Rafael Matute has also trained Chinese Martial Arts under shifu Xu Ji (Adam Hsu), shifu Guo Xiao Po and shifu Li Chie Yang.
Shifu Rafael Matute has trained Tae Kwon Do Moo Dok Kwan under Master Ye Bong Choi and Master Lee Choi Young (Lee Ye Choy) from Korea and he holds a black belt 3rd Dan (3er Hyung).
Shifu Rafael Matute has trained Ka Li under Master Amante Marinas (Philippines) and he holds a black belt in this art. He has also gotten a Brown belt in Karate.
Shifu Matute has trained Muay Thai in Thailand under Master Toshio Fujiwara and Master Kronchao Ploenchit. He has also obtained a black belt in Muay Thai.
In addition, he has obtained first places in several full contact competitions.
Shifu Matute has written several articles for magazines and newspapers in USA, Spain, Latin America and Thailand.
Page Updated: 1st October 2001.
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Fernando Blanco Dopazo .