AAPRILPRIL 2012 N2012 NEWSLETTEREWSLETTER

RECOGNISED BY/MEMBER OF

A month of major milestones for MUAYTHAI!!

April was another big month for muaythai kicking off the month with April 3rd which saw the gala mega event “Muaythai towards the Highest Sporting Recognition” which marked the lodging of IFMA’s IOC application and application for inclusion into the 2017 World Games.

IFMA/WMC has had over 30 international events this month and April was truly the month of the muaythai queens!!

Australia saw 2 title fights with Caley Reece (WMC World Champion, 2 x WMC Intercontinental Champion and Silver Medallist at the 2010 SportAccord World Combat Games) defending her World Title against Anna Willberg (European Cham-pion and 2010 IFMA World Championships Bronze medallist).

Kate Heuston (2011 Arafura Games gold medallist and 2010 IFMA World Champion-ships silver medallist) went up against England’s Alexis Rufus for the WMC Intercon-tinental Title.

Another WMC female World Title fight will be fought in San Francisco between 2 IFMA World Champions, America’s Miriam Nakamoto (awarded2006 IFMA World Championships Best Boxer) VS Canada’s Sandra Bastian (2006 IFMA World Champi-on).

France will also see another exciting WMC female World Title between Peru’s Val-entina Shevchenko (4x time IFMA World champion) against French champion Lelö Siapo Page.

Muaythai Super Gala Towards the Highest Sporting Recognition

Bangkok Convention Centre was filled to the last seat for what was probably one of the most beautiful muaythai events ever held. Thailand’s who’s who turned up to be a part of the official muaythai application to become recognized by the International Olympic Committee, to be included in the World Games, and to launch the “Sport Is Your Gang” campaign.

Her Excellency the Prime Minister of Thailand assigned H.E. General Yuthasak Sasiprapha, the Deputy Prime Minister and also the President of the National Olympic

Committee of Thailand, to chair the event. Many VIP delegates from around the world traveled to Bangkok including the Presi-dent of SportAccord, Mr. Hein Verbruggen, the President of the International World Games Asso-ciation, Ron Froehlich, IOC member and President of AIBA, Dr. CK Wu, and many World Muaythai Council (WMC) and International Federation of Muaythai Amateur (IFMA) executive board mem-bers. From Thailand, General Chjetta Thanajaro, President of the World Muaythai Council, Dr. Nat Indrapana, IOC member for Thai-land, and Dr. Sakchye Tapsuwan, President of the International Federation of Muaythai Amateur, warmly welcomed these international guests.

The event was simply spectacular, with an opening sequence of drums and a tradi-

tional muay boran show which left the audience breathless. General Yuthasak Sasiprapha led the official IFMA delegation to present the IOC application on behalf of IFMA to the President of SportAccord, Mr. Hein Verbruggen, and presenting the World Games application to Mr. Ron Froehlich, President of the International World Games Association. Many beautiful DVD presentations were made, and Thailand’s international celebrities, Sonia Couling, Matthew Dean and Boo Trairatana led the ceremony.

The opening fights were outstanding, with Leonardo Monteiro making Brazil proud by winning against Thailand’s Jack Sit Poo Pan Too. Slovakia’s Vladimir Konsky battled Thai warrior Rungrueangchai Dao Sriburee, and Thailand won in a very close decision. The “Sport Is Your Gang” title was between France’s own Sofiane Derdega and Thailand’s Lerdsila Chumpairtour, a fight which brought the audience to their

feet.

Thirty embassies attended this event and no doubt it will stay in their mem-ories for a long time to come. Now united, the night’s three objectives stand achieved.

Silk Road Cup: The journey begins… April 16th marked the date of one of the most cultural events which WMC and IFMA

have ever been part of. IFMA, WMC and the Uzbeki-stan Muaythai Federation are traveling back in history, to the ancient times when tradesmen and merchants from China and India began to make their way to Southeast Asia, traveling through deserts and moun-tains to Persia, Arabia, Central Asia, and eventually reaching ancient Greece and Rome.

The history of the Silk Road is a story of fearless explor-ers, military conquests, great thinkers, and tradesmen who risked their lives to lead the caravans. Not only

were goods and trade exchanged over this famous stretch, but splendid cultures and philosophies came into contact with each other. Alexander the Great, Marco Polo, Genghis Khan, and cities like Babylon, Bhukara, Samarkand, and many more, will come alive.

Muaythai is an ancient martial art with over 1,000 years of history. The foundation of muaythai is built on respect, honour, and long forgotten values. “Respect all, fear none” is the mantra of muaythai, which has never been used for aggression, but for the sake of defense. Over the next 12 months, the muaythai Silk Road warri-ors will fight for honour and symbolically, defend against invaders. In whatever historical city the caravan stops, the national team will fight and defend the caravan against neighbouring countries. The winners will move on, accompanying the cara-van to the next city. In the end, a final battle will take place to crown the Silk Road Champion of all Champions. The final will be held in a magnificent city which sits in the middle of the 6,500km long Silk Road, one of the most historical cities in the world: Samarkand.

This year’s edition of the European Championships were a great success, with

some 42 countries in participation. Under the sanctioning of IFMA and jointly organ-ised by the IFMA Continental Federation EMF and IFMA member National Federa-tion the Turkish Muaythai Federation (TMF) kicked off with a fantastic opening ceremo-ny in beautiful city of Antalya.

President of the City Mustafa Akaydın, General Secretary of the European Muay-thai Federation Rafal Slachta , President of the Turkish Muaythai Federation Halil Dur-na and many other officials attended the opening ceremony which was held in Dilek Sabancı Sport Hall.

“The popularity of muaythai in Turkey is increasing year after year. The fact that 42 countries are participating in this event also reflects the popularity of muaythai in Europe and that Europe is ready with the muaythai recognition process with the

from all parts of the globe. Sport thrives in the spirit of fair play, ethical behaviour and brings out grace in both winning and losing. It is also a valuable opportunity to exchange cultures between all participating countries.

Muaythai is a sport with a proud history built on ancient traditions in which respect, honour, and friendship play an important part. Athletes from 50 countries will travel to Tehran to take part in this Peace and Sport competition organised by the National Muaythai Association of Iran, in cooperation with the Federation Amateur Muaythai Asia (FAMA) and the International Federation of Muaythai Ama-teur (IFMA).

Besides the competition there will be an extensive cultural program and the organ-isers dearly hope that the event will help in promoting cultural understanding, particularly during these uncertain times.

IFMA is in final preparations for this exciting event which will see the participation of some 50 countries!!

2013 SportAccord World Combat Games IFMA General Secretary Travels to St. Petersburg for SportAccord World Combat Games Site Visit

IFMA General Secretary Stephan Fox travelled once again to St. Petersburg for another technical visit and meetings with Hen Verbruggen, President of SportAc-cord, Representatives of the Russian government and Representatives of the Rus-sian Martial Arts Union (RUMA). The visit was also a great opportunity for Mr. Fox to inspect the venues of the upcoming 2012 IFMA World Championships with Dmit-ry Putilin, President of the Russian Muaythai Federation.

IFMA and FAMA Head Technical Director Mr. Paiboon Srichaisawat travelled to Incheon, Korea to attend the first TD meeting for the 2013

Asian Indoor Martial Arts Games. The event’s slogan “Diversity Shines Here” was announced as well as the event’s mascots which are inspired by the endearing harbour seals that inhabit the Baekryong isles located on the western coast of the Korean Peninsula. The AIMAGs will see the participation of some 2400 ath-letes and officials with 9 sports and 100 events on the official sport programme. The official competition

venue will be the Dowon Gymnasium, which is only 12 KM from the Athlete’s Vil-lage which will be located at the Yonsei International University Campus. The Muaythai competition will include a total of 9 popular divisions and will be compet-ed over 3 days. Many thanks must go to the IFMA member National Federation in Korean, the Korean Muaythai Association (KMTA) for their outstanding work and coordination between IFMA, FAMA and the games OC.

AAPRILPRIL 2012 N2012 NEWSLETTEREWSLETTER

RECOGNISED BY/MEMBER OF

International Olympic Committee.” said President of Turkish Muaythai Federation Halil Durna. He also mentioned that this will be the last test event for Europe before the upcoming IFMA World Championships is St. Petersburg, Russia, one year before the 2013 SportAccord World Combat Games which will also be held in St. Petersburg.

The opening ceremony com-bined a mix of cultural ex-change, peace and sport and certainly featured the beautiful

history and culture of the host country, Turkey.

The Official Launch of MUAYTHAI’s Social campaign:

SPORT is your GANG Muaythai is a martial art that gives back as much as it takes. This is why the World Muaythai Council (WMC) and the International Federation of Muaythai Amateur (IFMA) are involved in so many community projects.

Edmund Burke once said “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing”. In muaythai we say “the time is always the right to do

what is right”.

When the Tsunami hit Asia in 2004, the Muaythai Kids Help Kids charity campaign raised over 30,000 care packages donat-ed by muaythai kids from children overseas to kids in need in Thailand’s distraught regions.

The Muaythai Against Drugs or MAD campaign has become a trademark campaign with regular events held in over 70 coun-tries. In 2011 IFMA signed an MOU with Peace & Sport to

establish a campaign titled Sport Is Your Gang which was officially launched on April 3rd in Bangkok, Thailand.

The WMC and IFMA along with other sporting groups within the SportAccord family will try to reach out to kids caught up in street gangs to help to find young-sters a belonging within the sporting gangs or teams.

Stephan Fox, General Secretary of IFMA and Vice President of the WMC was given the honour of giving the opening presentation. Dignitaries such as Mr. Hein Verbruggen President of SportAccord, Ron Froehlich President of the International World Games Association, Dr. CK Wu, President of AIBA and many other executives trav-elled to Bangkok to be part of the

launch of this campaign.

Over 40 Ambassadors and Embassy representatives were present at the campaign launch which truly reflects the amount of support muaythai is receiving for the programme.

Within the next 12 months, the project will be established in over 100 countries.

Sport, of any kind, has the power to unite and bring together cultures and people