Muay Thai championship on the beach

aaron, Sep 14, 2019, 1:24 PM IST

Representative Image

Mangaluru: Thailand’s popular martial art ‘Muay Thai’ is now for the first time in the world, being introduced as a beach sport. The valuable opportunity of hosting the very first “Muay Thai Championship” has been provided to Panambur beach.

This championship will be jointly organised by Karnataka Muay Thai Association and Monkey Mayhem Fight Club and Fitness Centre for 5 days from Nov 20^th to 24^th at Panambur beach. More than 400 contestants form close to 28 states will participate in the competition. The first four days will involve the senior division competition followed by Pro-India competition on the final day. The blueprint of the championship is being prepared by the association.

Tripura, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka were in competing each other to host the championship. However, finally the opportunity was provided to Karnataka with the history of having earlier conducted a state level competition systematically. Besides, since most of the members of the state association are from the coast, for the first time, the decision has been taken to organize the event at the beach. .

This time’s state level championship was conducted at ETA mall in Bengaluru in which close to 200 contestants from 12 districts participated. Of the 18 contestants who represented Mangaluru, 17 were selected for national level competition. Altogether 60 contestants selected in this will be competing in the national level championship.

Good abilities

The state level contestants have already shown good abilities at the national level competitions. The state has achieved Runners-Up trophy at the 2016 competition in Mumbai, Overall Championship at Jaipur in 2017 and Runners-Up Trophy at the 2018 competition in Jammu-Kashmir. Mangaluru’s Anvita Alva won the third place in the recent World Championship.

What is Muay Thai?

Muay Thai, also known as Thai boxing is a martial art form Thailand. This style of martial art is practiced in many countries throughout the world. The style not only strengthens ones limbs but also provides self defense. It is classified as a demo event during Asian Games.

Coastal culture in the competition

The organizers have decided to present the beauty of the coastal culture in the championship being organised at Panambur. The variety of culture within the state will also be introduced.

For the first time, national level Muay Thai Championship is being organized in the state. In that too, it is for the first time being organized at the beach. Close to 28 states will be participating and already 25 states have registered themselves – Rajgopal Rai, State President, MuayThai Association