Finally, on the 8^th of September, a new page in the history of Kungfu VS Muaythai has been written. In a 7 match Sanda VS Muaythai challenge at the Beijing Workers Stadium yesterday, the Chinese Sanda team have secured a close 4 to 3 victory over the Thais & their foreign fighters. But this is nothing to be proud of for the Chinese, unfortunately, because what they have defeated is not the complete Muaythai, but a Muaythai that is restrained from unleashing its full fury by the elbow/knee handicap imposed on it by the organisers. This Sanda team is picked from various national Sanda championship (amateur) circuits, not from the King of Sanda (pro) tournament. So there is a slight difference in standard. However for the Thais, defeat is defeat. They should thus think about it & learn how on earth Sanda can improve so much in such a short time.

Due to the mutual rule restriction imposed on both sides, the intensity of the fights were obviously afftected. The 1^st match is a 60kg category demonstration fight between 2 female fighters, He Wei who is this year's National Police Sanda lady champion & Waerun Fannor who despite her tall & feminine demeanour, won 2 lady championship golden belts before. Both of them displayed a high standard in their respective disciplines.

The 2^nd fight is the 54kg category fight between Ji Guangzhou & Joderak, a Lumpini champion. While in the clinch/grappling position, Joderak landed an illegal elbow strike on Ji, & proceeded to overpower him with heavy punches. That elbow strike was not very obvious & went undetected by the referees at that time, leading to an initial Chinese loss.

The 3^rd fight is the 66kg category fight between Cui Yuewu & Chaperng Koonlan. Luckily for the Chinese, Cui's side kicks & fast throws were able to counteract Koonlan's strong round kicks & body knees, taking back one victory from the Thais.

The 4^th fight is the 58kg category fight between Liu Jian & Prawalan, a King's Cup champion. Liu effectively evaded many of Prawalan's hard strikes, & was able to win the fight with points gained through various throws.

The 5^th fight is the 71kg category fight between Hong Hao & Wanra Talah. Wanra's punches & surprising throw techniques were way superior over Hong, easily walking over his Chinese opponent. The result was at a stalemate once more.

The 6^th fight is the 62kg category fight between Zhao Baojun & the Australian fighter Kurt Fenlosen, also a King's Cup champion. Zhao was also able to neutralize many of Kurt's punches & kicks, out-pointing him with clean throws, thus giving the Chinese team the lead again.

The 7^th fight is the 76kg category fight between Sun Tao & the fearsome Sudanese fighter Mohammad Fedz, who won last year's World Muaythai Cup. To everyone's amazement, Sun Tao, who adopted guerrilla fighting tatics against Fedz, succeeded in slamming the black fighter head first into the canvas several times, taking the match by points. With this victory, the fate of the Thai side has been sealed.

The 8^th & final fight is the 81kg category fight between Qin Wenzhi & another imposing fighter, Canadian Joseph Geri, who is a Lumpini heavyweight champion known for his powerful elbow/knee combos. As expected, the 1.96m Joseph, whose long arms extend over 2m, totally suppressed Qin with only his boxing & knee techniques, bringing the final result to 4:3 in favour of the fighters of the Middle Kingdom.

Part of the reason that Muaythai suffered this loss is over-confidence on the Thai team. They did not closely study the way their Sanda opponents fought, & to find their weaknesses. Although they are all seasoned champions, they went to Beijing with the assumption that since Muaythai had beat all other striking arts in the past, including Kungfu, they can beat the Chinese based on experience alone. The Thai side is so confident that they willingly took the handicap of no elbows & knees to the head, believing they can still win Sanda without these 2 important weapons. And they have been proven wrong. In the press conference after the challenge the Thai officials complained that the Chinese referees stopped the match whenever the Thai fighters clinched their Chinese opponents to use knees strikes. But what is the point of complaining when they've already agreed to these critical restrictions in the first place? The Chinese, on the other hand, carefully studied their opponents, finding ways to evade Muaythai's strengths & attacking its weaknesses. Besides improving their conditioning, all the Chinese coaching brains spend much time drilling the Sanda fighters in the methods which they believe will work against Muaythai. All the 4 Chinese victories were won by points gained from throws. With the extra edge of not needing to worry about elbows/knees, the Chinese war plan have more or less succeeded. This is evidence to show you how effectively the Chinese can apply strategies from the Art of War, something which I think deserves credit. In comparison, the Thai people are much more simple & straightfoward, thus losing out in this war of brains + brawn. As individual fighters, they are tougher than the Chinese. In fact, they dominated all of the bouts with superior striking skills. Yet somehow the Chinese still managed to out-smart the Thais as a team. So this is where the Thai side must calmly reflect upon if they wish to regain their position as the ultimate ring sport. The next challenge will be scheduled on the 23^rd of September at the new Guangzhou Sports Stadium in Canton, & in this challenge the Thais will no longer have any handicaps - they will be free to use all Muaythai elbow/knees. The Chinese have sent out many formidable champion fighters from the King of Sanda tournament inclding last year's King, Liu Hailong, who will fight in the 75kg category match. If the Chinese are still able to defeat the Thais on the 23^rd, then we can safely acknowledge the supremacy of Sanda, anointing it as the new leader of ring sports. Avenging the shame that Muaythai has put on Kungfu in the past decades, the Chinese have for now proven that they could bridge the big gap of standard that used to exist between the 2 striking arts, although not convincingly. Still, being able to achieve this result with just 3 years of modification is worthy of praise. A step forward for Sanda, & hopefully Chinese Martial Science will be richer for it. So on the 23^rd, let us see whether this can be confirmed. 

*The 3 VCDs of this Sep 8^th 2001 Challenge in Beijing is now available, but only in Chinese. Ttitled Kung Fu VS Muay Thai: First Blood, its total length is 2 hrs 51 mins. As we all know this is the first major clash between the 2 martial arts in years, and it ended up in frustration for the Thais. I'm selling at S$12.00 for local guys or US$12.00 for foreign orders, which includes postage fees. Readers who need the 3 VCDs just email me here. 

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