Black belt needed: The moment man's pants fall down during his martial arts routine to packed sports hall

Red faced: Keenan Stone was left wishing he had a black belt for real, when his pants fell down during a Martial Arts routine in LA

It would never have happened to Bruce Lee. But then his pants were always rather tight.

Something one unfortunate student may want to take on board after his pants fell down in front of several hundred people during a martial arts routine.

Keenan Stone, 20, a sophomore at the University of Virginia, was left wishing he had a black belt for real, during his Wushu performance in a packed sports stadium at UCLA, in California, earlier this month.

Wushu is a general term given to all forms of Chinese Martial Arts. There are several forms but it looks to all intents and purposes like a martial arts dance routine.

Mr Stone, a double major in foreign affairs and Chinese, has a background in Twai Kwando but saw a video of Wushu on YouTube and was impressed.

He later joined The Virginia Wushu Club and was competing at the 16th annual UCLA Collegiate Tournament when the incident happened.

He started off well. Striding confidently out onto the floor, determined to impress the judges.

The crowd watched as the music soared and Mr Stone displayed a series of high-powered kicks and punches mixed with some serious twists and turns in time to the beat.

But these proved to be too much...for his pants at least.

Looking good: The 20-year-old sophomore, at the University of Virginia, started off well during the Wushu competition at UCLA

'The beginning was OK,' Mr Stone told MailOnline.

'Towards the middle I felt something was wrong. I was like "OK, I think my pants are coming down. What am I going to do?"'

The elastic had gone on his traditional white silk trousers and with every kick they edged closer and closer to his ankles.

Flamboyant: Mr Stone jumped and kicked his way around the sports hall but felt something wasn't quite right...

With one last twist they were down, leaving a rather red-faced Mr Stone standing in his boxer briefs.

'I kind of paused and looked down for a second,' said Mr Stone.

'But I thought I've trained for such a long time and was determined to finish.

Going, going, gone: The elastic had gone in Mr Stones pants and, on a particularly complex move, gave out completely leaving his pants around his ankles

The show must go on: After battling to get the pants over his sneakers, Mr Stone flung them to the side and launched straight back into his routine like a pro

Professional: To whoops of encouragement from the crowd - and the judges - Mr Stone continued in his underwear, although he says if he'd been wearing 'whitey tidies' it would have been a different matter

WUSHU? WHAT'S THAT?

Wushu is a general term given to all forms of Chinese Martial Arts.

It can be internal or external and can be used for competition and sparring as well as physical health.

Some styles also incorporate weapons.

Modern Wushu was established by the Chinese in 1949 as a competitive sport based on the jump, speed of the technique, complexity of the moves, physical strength, visual expression and beauty of the performance.

Mr Stone practises the Chang Quan technique of Wushu, which has far more flamboyant and crowd pleasing moves.

Before he got into acting Jet Li was the Chinese Wushu champion.

In competitive Wushu participants are given points for patterns and types of Martial Arts manoeuvres.

The forms comprise basic movements, including: stances, kicks, punches, balances, jumps, sweeps and throws.

Competitive forms have time limits that can range from 1 minute, 20 seconds for some external styles to over five minutes for internal styles.

Mr Stone's best move is the Lotus Kick - a complex action where he jumps in the air and kicks while doing a 360 degree turn.

'It was a do or die situation. And I decided to do it.'

After battling to get the pants over his sneakers Mr Stone whisked them off to the side and launched straight back into his routine in just his underwear and martial arts jacket.

'Everyone was cheering and shouting 'jiayou', which means "add gas" in Chinese,' said Mr Stone.

'I was actually encouraged by the judges too. They were egging me on to push through.'

Although Mr Stone didn't place in the competition he did manage a very impressive 7.7 out of 10 score.

'I felt sorry for some people because I beat them in my pants,' said Mr Stone.

He even managed a couple of exposing kicks and even a few cartwheels.

'Luckily I was wearing compression shorts which came close to my knee,' said Mr Stone.

'If I'd been wearing whitey tidies it would have been a different story.'

But unluckily for Mr Stone the whole thing was captured on video and has now gone viral on the internet.

'My friends keep bugging me about it,' said Mr Stone. 'A lot of people now know me as the "pantless Wushu master" or simply "the guy with no pants".

'A lot of people at other universities recognise me as the guy without any pants now too.'

Mr Stone, who is keen to study in China, will compete again next year...hopefully without any wardrobe malfunctions.