The muaythai competition was a knockout at the Beijing Games
with the beautiful Olympic Sports Centre as the venue. The fights
telecasted live every day by CCTV had a fantastic spectator appeal
and with no doubt muaythai is now firmly established in China. This
event was for the elite athletes in the sport, and some of the
match ups would have been a dream for any promoter..............
who can normally see the likes of Yodsaenklai, Oberg, Kyshenko,
Levin etc on one fight card?!?!
Day 1 saw 44 fights in 2 rings and the capacity crowd stayed to the
very last minute. Day 2 saw 22 fights and people queinng on the
door to watch the muaythai competition. The final day was really
muaythai at its finest, with the best of the best going toe to toe
for the gold medal, in some of the most exciting fights ever. There
are far too many single moments to mention, but importantly the
medals were spread across all 5 continents, proving that muaythai
has become truly global.
China was the surprise package of the event, showing that the
sport is definitely on par with the rest of the world, by going
toe-to-toe with the best of the best.
