On December 6, 2001, in the "Chinese Kung Fu-1 Thai Professional Muay Thai Championship" competition held at Bangkok Royal Field Plaza, China Kung Fu lost 1-4 to professional Muay Thai. Even today 18 years later, this game is still talked about by fans.
Although China's miserable defeat was due to objective conditions, the fundamental reason lies in itself. We can get some helpful thoughts from the game process and the reaction after the game.
before and after the defeat,
December 5, 2001 is the birthday of the King of Thailand. Every year, Thailand holds a grand celebration ceremony in Royal Field Square. There are artistic performances and various boxing competitions from morning to night. More than 100,000 people gathered in the square, and the program ends until three or four o'clock the next morning.
Royal Field Square
The square was crowded and crowded. The cars were stuffed into a long row on the road next to it. In order to prevent traffic jams from entering the square, the Thai side specially arranged for the Chinese team to stay in the Royal Hotel near Royal Field Square in the afternoon in advance.
This is the oldest hotel in Bangkok, full of tourists from all over the world. The competition for Chinese athletes was scheduled to be held at 10:30 pm local time. In fact, at 11:00, the second contest of Chinese Kung Fu - Thailand Professional Muay Thai was officially started. The Thai side arranged this time to compete without knowing what the purpose was. Perhaps it was because the car could not drive in, so it took 20 minutes to go to the "Athlete Lounge" opposite the ring - a shed made of iron sheets. At this time, there were more than two hours before the start of the competition.
The shed is also crowded with people and the ground is muddy. Some Chinese athletes don’t even have a seat, and they feel a little tired when they are squeezed into a small and stuffy space. When the Chinese organization committee member expressed dissatisfaction with the former director of the Sports Department of Thailand, Guangluokuo, Guangluokuo explained that Thailand holds such competitions every year, and the treatment of players from all over the world is the same.
The first game of 56 kg. The Guangdong player Zhou Yongjin, who has good physical strength and monotonous skills, played very well. His opponent, 17-year-old Bo Huai, is the second place in this level in Thailand. He is very strong. However, he was repeatedly fallen in the first two games. Zhou Yongjin had a great advantage. However, due to lack of experience, he did not pay attention to allocating his physical strength when leading. His physical strength began to decline in the third game, and even hit the opponent's whip leg repeatedly, and he was hit several knee hits, but he was not knocked down. He led 2-1 in the third game. Under the guidance of the coach, Zhou Yongjin regained his strength again. The two sides played relatively close, but the points were still Xiao Zhou. In the fifth game, the morale of Chinese soldiers was greatly hit by the Chinese soldiers. Even the host of Thai TV said it was Zhou's victory, but the two Thai border referees forced Bo Huaisheng. This obvious injustice hit the morale of Chinese soldiers. The Chinese coach immediately shed tears after seeing the verdict.
XinJin's recent photo
Former Chinese Martial Arts Association Chairman Li Jie convened the Chinese team to hold a summary meeting late at night after the game. Although he was very unhappy, he did not blame the players and coaches. Li Jie said: "We are not unable to afford to lose, but this competition reflects the gap between China's Sanda and Muay Thai. We will compete with Muay Thai again in the future, but with today's state and level, we cannot defeat Muay Thai. Don't emphasize objective reasons, the key is that our own strength is not as strong as others."
In Bangkok, the loss was in the rules
Some people think that China did not send the strongest players in the country that time, so they suffered. This is actually a misunderstanding.
Before, Sanda athletes who won the championship in domestic competitions or are recognized as the number one master in China are not necessarily suitable for confronting Muay Thai, because Chinese martial arts Sanda and Muay Thai are two completely different competitive events in the technical system. Sanda (now commonly known as Chinese Kung Fu) attaches importance to athletes' safety issues and has always prohibited the use of various dangerous techniques, including elbow and knee techniques in terms of competition rules. Although the Sanda King Championship at that time relaxed the restrictions on knee techniques, due to the short time, the athletes' knee skills were still very immature. From the perspective of Thai experts, it was "primary school students' level" and could not compete with Muay Thai's knee skills. Not to mention the
elbow method. Before that, there was no competition in China that allowed the elbow method.Rules determine the appearance of a sports event. Since the Chinese Sanda competition uses R&D scores as a means of winning, rather than knocking down opponents as the main means of winning, like Muay Thai competitions, this will inevitably cause Sanda players to be inferior to Muay Thai players in terms of physical fitness, ability to resist strikes and strength.
Secondly, among the five players of the Chinese team, the 65-kg Geriletu and the 75-kg Yuan Yubao are the world champions of the Sanda Martial Arts. Geriletu was the number one expert in this level at that time. Although the other three were not the strongest players in the country, they all entered the top three.
Griletu fights against Muay Thai champion
The problem is that even if these three players change to the players who are recognized as the strongest in China (in fact, there are no recognized as the strongest players except for some levels) cannot guarantee that they can defeat Muay Thai. Take Liu Hailong as an example. Even if he was asked to fight that time, he would not be able to guarantee that he would definitely defeat the Muay Thai player. Which one is stronger and weak? It is hard to conclude
This raises an unavoidable question: Can Chinese Sanda compete with Muay Thai and ultimately defeat Muay Thai?
For this issue, theoretically speaking, domestic experts are basically divided into two factions. One faction believes that as long as you study Muay Thai thoroughly, develop the characteristics of Sanda, and use the technology rationally, Sanda can completely defeat Muay Thai, and at least compete with Muay Thai.
The reason is: Sanda’s magic weapon against Muay Thai is the straight leg technique and the throwing technique. The straight leg method specifically refers to " side kicking ". It is used to widen the distance from the opponent, so as not to give the opponent a chance to use the elbow and knee, and can also score points. The fall method is a favorable weapon of China's Sanda. Various fall methods are very clever. You can get two points with a fall. It is the best way to deal with Muay Thai.
Kick Muay Thai with side kick
Another faction believed that Sanda was still difficult to fight Muay Thai at that time, because:
1. Although side kick and throwing are good, they are very physically exhausting. The side kick is highly technical, but it does not have much lethality and is very physically exhausted. It is useful for dealing with Muay Thai in the first two rounds. The back is often a side kick, and the opponent is not kicked away, but instead he retreats. The fall is also exhausting and has no lethality. Moreover, it is difficult for Chinese players to do as long as Muay Thai players specialize in training to prevent falls.
2. The punching force of Sanda players’ legs and knees is not as strong as that of Muay Thai players. Especially if they don’t know how to use knees, they can only win based on points on the basis of preventing the opponent’s knees and whip legs. This is actually a passive method. Because if you want to play 5 games, the more points the Chinese players score in the front, the greater the physical strength consumes. When the physical strength decreases in the last two games, the defensive ability will also be reduced accordingly. It is impossible to avoid being hit hard or knee strikes at all. Therefore, if Sanda wants to defeat Muay Thai, it must have the ability to face Muay Thai head-on based on its existing ones, that is, it must have the ability to knock down Muay Thai players instead of just falling down. Otherwise, it will be difficult to defeat Muay Thai by just scoring points.
To enable Chinese Sanda players to have the ability to confront Muay Thai players head-on, they must make their fists and legs have enough lethality, and also improve their level of attack and defense using elbows and knees. At the same time, they cannot lose the secret skills of Sanda. A Muay Thai expert who understands Sanda told the head coach of the Chinese team: "If China Sanda absorbs the essence of Muay Thai again, it will be invincible in the world." Li Jianping himself also realized this problem. He revealed to reporters that the Wushu Association has considered specifically to find a group of athletes to learn Muay Thai from the age of sixteen or seventeen, and will let them fight Muay Thai in the future, and can even use Muay Thai rules to compete with Muay Thai players.
Change or not Sanda hesitation
Athletes train and compete according to the rules. Therefore, in order to enable athletes to truly have the ability to face Muay Thai head-on, it is necessary to reform the current Sanda competition rules.
Considering the actual situation in China, the rules of the "China-Thailand Championship" formulated by both China and Thailand at that time were the rules of the Chinese martial arts Sanda Championship. In order to align with the world competition, some minor reforms have been made to the original rules. As long as the elbow method is allowed and some minor changes are made in terms of scoring, it will be the same as the "China-Thailand Confrontation Rules".
But it is not easy to make such a determination by the martial arts association. After all, it is still afraid of being unsafe. Biyi Sanda is a sport, and safety is the first priority. Moreover, all competitions entering the Olympics, such as amateur boxing, judo and taekwondo, are based on safety. This is the contradiction between Sanda against Muay Thai.
Some people propose a compromise method: let some Sanda players who are more suitable for Muay Thai confrontation specifically conduct Muay Thai training, so that they have both the skills of Sanda and are familiar with Muay Thai, and can compete with Muay Thai. This method is not a long-term solution, because without a real competition using this rule, it is impossible to achieve a high level by training alone.
Can China Sanda fight against Muay Thai and defeat it without changing the training competition system? If not, should reform be carried out? Should China Sanda change itself in order to fight against Muay Thai?... It seems that this series of problems left over from the "2001 China-Thailand Confrontation" are worthy of careful consideration in the Chinese Sanda community.
(does not represent the official view of Sanda King)
Author: Guan Wenming
