Thai Tourism and Sports Minister is stirring a regional sporting controversy by wanting the SEA Games Federation (SEAGF) to restore the term \u201cMuaythai\u201d for this year\u2019s edition of the SEA Games the nation is hosting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Bangkok Post has reported that the matter has now reached the Thai Parliament with the minister, Artthakorn Sirilattayajorn vowing to push the SEAGF to restore the Muaythai instead of just Muay, claiming it represents Thailand\u2019s soft power and national heritage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Artthakorn is also the chairman of the Thailand SEA Games Organising Committee (THASOC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two years ago when Cambodia hosted the biennial Games, the Cambodia SEA Games Organising Committee (CAMSOC) wanted the sport to be only referred to as Muay as per the approved Games Charter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The decision did not go well with the Thais and after numerous objections, CAMSOC decided not to include Muay at the games, and included Kun Khmer instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This resulted in a number of countries including Thailand boycotting the Kun Khmer competition in Phnom Penh. Kun Khmer is the Cambodian name for the sport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore were among the countries that did not send a single Kun Khmer athlete for the SEA Games two years ago. This was also compounded by the threat from the International Federation of Muaythai Associations (IFMA) to suspend any athletes participating for a period of two years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the record, while Thailand claims the sports originated in Thailand, countries like Cambodia and Laos claim it was regional sport, and the use of the inclusion of the word Thai in the sport was an attempt to rewrite history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are no major differences between the two combat sports \u2013 the rules are similar, with a slight difference in how they score the match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Back in 1995, at an ASEAN meeting, Cambodia petitioned unsuccessfully to change the official name of the sport to the more neutral \u201cSovannaphum Boxing\u201d or \u201cSEA Boxing,\u201d arguing that the sport has origins in Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar, in addition to Thailand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The word Muay itself derives from the Sanskrit word mavyati (<\/em> \u092e\u0935\u094d\u092f\u0924\u093f) meaning “to pull together”<\/p>\n\n\n\n The CEO of the SEAGF, Chaiyapak Siriwat, has chosen to distance himself from the Minister\u2019s stance. Chaiyapak, who is also a vice-president of the SEAGF said that the sport will be remain as Muay for the Games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ironically after Cambodia included Kun Khmer at the 2023 Games, it was Chaiyapak, who confirmed that Muay Thai will return for the 33rd SEA Games in Thailand in 2025, replacing Kun Khmer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While the dispute two years ago fizzled out with the boycott, this time around it may be different if Atthakorn carries out his threat to include Muay Thai.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The dispute is more than a matter of simple linguistic differences. The names stoke the flames of nationalism and rivalry in both countries, which have seen friction in many other arenas, including a decades-old border dispute that has reignited over the area surrounding an ancient temple and World Heritage Site that also resulted in bloody skirmishes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While Muay Thai is globally recognized, Kun Khmer is completely unknown outside of Cambodia and only in the past two years that Cambodia has been making efforts to promote it extensively outside the Kingdom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Given the current tension between the Thailand and Cambodia, it would be wise for the Thai Minister to drop his insistence of empowering Muay Thai at the Games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The nationalistic stance taken by the Thai government was also evident in their sudden decision to change the official SEA Games mascot to one that predominantly use only the Thai flag colours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Thai Tourism and Sports Minister is stirring a regional sporting controversy by wanting the SEA Games Federation (SEAGF)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4566,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,46],"tags":[125,124],"class_list":["post-4565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsbeat","category-sea-games","tag-kun-khmer","tag-muay-thai"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t