(PLO)- The host of the 32nd SEA Games has just announced that he will give up Muay Thai, and Thailand has announced a boycott of Khmer kun…
The 32nd SEA Games will take place from May 5 to 17, which is less than four months away, but the host Cambodia still continues to change the sports. Specifically, the host of this subject brought the other into the competition, leading to a “war of words” and groups threatening to boycott each other’s games.
The latest is the conflict between hosts Cambodia and Thailand. On January 23, Cambodia announced the elimination of muay Thai to bring Khmer martial arts into the 32nd SEA Games competition program.
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Cambodia rejected Muay Thai, Thailand got angry and threatened to boycott. Photo: Getty |
This angered the Thai side and announced that they would not send a delegation of Khmer kun athletes to Cambodia to compete, ie boycotting this traditional Khmer martial art.
In response to this action, the Cambodian side also announced that they would boycott the upcoming international Muay Thai championship of Thailand. Not long ago, the Cambodian side was determined to participate in the Muay Thai international tournament.
The Thai side is angry because muay Thai is more famous than the Khmer kun. Thailand cites evidence that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has recognized Muay Thai as a sport and is in the process of reviewing it for inclusion in Olympic competitions such as Judo, Taekwondo… in the future.
Meanwhile, Khmer kun is a fighting martial art of the Khmer people. During Pol Pot’s time, this martial art was very popular among soldiers, then Cambodia advocated abolishing this fighting martial art. However, then the Khmer kun was recognized by UNESCO as a world cultural heritage, so the Khmer kun was popularized once more and Cambodia is trying to popularize it abroad.
A few months ago, the Philippines also “warned” with Cambodia because of the exclusion of stick martial arts (Philippines martial arts) and artistic gymnastics from the 32nd SEA Games competition program. Those are the “gold mines” of the Philippines.
While Singapore last year also raised questions regarding the fact that sports events like SEA Games have too many fighting sports, fighting martial arts such as karate, kickboxing, Khmer kun, Vovinam.
The Cambodian side stated the reason for the type of muay Thai sport because it is completely similar to kickboxing (boxing with legs), so they removed it.
Cambodia also eliminated many of Vietnam’s strong sports such as shooting, fencing, and bodybuilding. These are all “gold mines” of Vietnamese sports.
THANH HA
