The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) has assigned Khalil Al Jaber, Director of the Sports Affairs Department of the Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC), to manage and supervise the sport of ‘Muay Thai’ at the First Martial Arts Games to be held in Bangkok from August1 to 9, 2009.
This was announced by QOC yesterday. The sport of Muay Thai will be held for the first time at any event sanctioned by OCA
Al Jaber managed the same sport during the 2nd Indoor Asian Championship held in Macau in December 2007.
Al Jaber said ‘Muay Thai’ will make its debut at the First Martial Arts Games with each participating country allowed to field five players during matches
The competition includes four rounds each of two minutes with one-minute break
Al Jaber added that the Martial Arts Games shall be joined with the indoor games in order to avoid crowds, and after this, the competition will be held bi-annually in an Asian country
When asked about the purpose of staging such events, Al Jaber said that the idea behind such competitions is to give a chance to sports that are not included in the Asian Games
Muay Thai is a form of hard martial art practiced in large parts of the world, including Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries.
Muay Thai has a long history in Thailand and is the country’s national sport.
