Kicking up a fuss

2023.01.27
Kicking up a fuss Cartoon by Rebel Pepper
Photo: RFA

Thai sports authorities have threatened to keep their country's kickboxers away from the May 2023 Southeast Asian Games in Cambodia after the hosts said they would use the Cambodian term Kun Khmer for the ancient martial art instead of Muay Thai, the Thai name for their national sport that is also used internationally. Cambodian authorities added insult to injury in the long-running dispute over the origin of Southeast Asian kickboxing when they declared their nation the "cultural owners" of the sport. Muay Thai won recognition by the Olympics in 2021 and is being considered as a future Olympic event.

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