Muay-Thai (thai boxing) is one of the world’s oldest martial arts, but is also considered as self-defence, competitive sport and fitness sport at the present time. The Muay-Thai was an art of self-defence and competition of the soldiers in the ancient Siam (former country name of Thailand). With lances, swords and the Muay-Thai technique, the inhabitants and soldiers of the ancient Siam were fighting against invaders from the surrounding countries. Back then, Muay-Thai already proved its effectiveness, therefore the techniques can still be used today to effectively compete in self-defence-situations. The exact development of the martial art Muay-Thai is hard to reconstruct, since the old capital of Siam (Thailand) had been taken over by Birma in the year of 1767. In this battle, all archives and documents had been destroyed. Since the 20th century, Muay-Thai has been considered as the defence and national martial art of Siam. This art of combat previously inspired at the court of King or at village festivities, when two fighters faced each other and compared their hardness, strength and commitment with spectacular techniques. Still today, it is followed with excitement and joy when two athletes compare each other in the ring. Not only precise and good technique is needed in Muay-Thai, but also a large measure of persistence, strength, hardness and mental toughness.
Competition rules
Combat clothing: Thaibox-pants (shorts), boxing gloves (8 or 10 ounces), hand wraps, mouth protection, groin protector (head protection / foot and shin protection)
Combat times:
A – class professional: 5 rounds of 3 min each, with 1,5 min break
B – class semi-professional: 5 rounds of 2 min each, with 1,0 min break
C – class amateur: 3 rounds of 2 min each, with 1,0 min break
D – class beginner: 3 rounds of 2 min each, with 1,0 min break
Weight classes:
Superheavyweight 95,00kg
Heavyweight -95,00kg
Cruiserweight -86,00kg
Superlight heavyweight -82,55kg
Light heavyweight -79,38kg
Super Middleweight -76,20kg
Junior Middleweight -69,85kg
Welterweight -66,68kg
Junior Welterweight -63,50kg
Lightweight -61,24kg
Junior Lightweight -58,97kg
Featherweight -57,15kg
Junior Featherweight -55,34kg
Bantamweight -53,52kg
Junior Bantamweight -52,16kg
Flyweight -50,80kg
Junior Flyweight -48,99kg
Mini Flyweight -47,62kg
Permitted techniques: knee- and elbow-techniques, all kick-techniques with the foot or shin, all fist-techniques, backhander, clinching (holding on the opponent’s upper body), holding the opponent’s leg with immediate consecutive technique
Forbidden techniques: headers, slapping when the opponent lies on the floor, kick- and punch-techniques in the back area or on the back of the head