The Muay Thai Festival in Honor of His Majesty the King’s 72nd Birthday, the 2024 IFMA Youth World Championships at Paragon Hall, Siam Paragon, from September 13-19, is free for boxing fans. The International Federation of Muay Thai Associations (IFMA) in collaboration with the Amateur Muay Thai Association of Thailand (AMTAT) and the Sports Authority of Thailand (SAT) organized the competition to expand the base of Muay Thai sports worldwide, as well as to support the policy of the Thai government under the leadership of Ms. Paethongtarn Shinawatra, Prime Minister, to promote “Muay Thai sports” to become soft power. There are young Thai boxers from around the world, members of IFMA, participating in the competition, more than 100 countries, approximately 2,000 athletes and 1,500 people involved, totaling approximately 3,500 people. It is expected that this event will create economic value for Thailand of 500-1,000 million baht. As for Thai youth Thai boxing athletes, 26 people will participate, divided into
13 men and 13 women.
The 2024 IFMA Youth World Championships began its first day of competition amidst a lively atmosphere. On the first day, 153 pairs of youth Muay Thai athletes from around the world entered the ring in 4 arenas, showing off their Muay Thai skills to the fullest. Six youth Muay Thai athletes from the Thai national team began competing.
Starting with the 40 kg. female division, age 12-13 years, the first round saw Laksanaporn Musiko, nicknamed Muay Thai “Petchmintra T. Yan Din Daeng”, enter the ring to duel with Micheala Dostalova from the Czech Republic. The result showed that Laksanaporn moved forward to attack first and was the one who won by points 29-28, allowing her to advance to the last 8 to meet Karina Yesianevich, a neutral individual athlete (AIN). The competition will be held on 15 September.
Next in the 48 kg. female division, age 16-17 years, first round, Thidarat Kanburi, nicknamed Muay Thai “Thidaploy Sit Phuyai Chuk”, whose idol is Stamp Fairtex, went on stage to meet Ali
a Saljeva from Kyrgyzstan. Throughout the fight, it was Thidarat’s side that threw punches and kicks more clearly. Before the end of 3 rounds, she won with a score of 30-27, advancing to the final 8 to compete against Ozge Soyuncu from Turkey. The competition will be held on 16 September.
After the fight, “Nong Tukkata” Thidarat Kanburi revealed that she was not satisfied with her form today because she still made a few mistakes when her guard was down and she had to go back and fix them. She is very confident in the next round because she has trained well and has been training for quite some time. For this event, she set a goal to go as far as possible, to get the gold medal. As for the future, she wants to advance to the next level, to go even further, to become a world champion.
In the first round of the 54 kg. male division, age 16-17 years (32 fighters), Wiwitwin Lenthammee, a young boxer nicknamed Muay Thai “Fino Chor. Ketwina” met Galo Gonzalez Ramirez from Mexico. In the game, Wiwitwin used his supe
rior Muay Thai skills to easily win by points 30-27, successfully advancing to the last 16. The next round will be held on September 14.
In the 48 kg category for men aged 16-17 years, in the first round, Tasnim Kotphakdee, nicknamed “Diesellek Sor Sritong” from Muay Thai, met Karrar Al Baidhanni from Iraq. This pair’s fights were quite evenly matched and they took turns using their weapons to score points. Before the end of 3 rounds, Tasnim won with a score of 29-28, advancing to the final 8 to meet Mimur Schraner, an Individual Neutral Athlete (AIN), who will fight on 16 September.
In the 57kg female category, age 16-17, in the first round, Ewittra Sonrit, nicknamed ‘Yodkhwanjai of Phaya Lae School’, fought and performed her best before losing to Setareh Morshedi from Iran by a score of 27-30, which unfortunately ended her journey in the first round.
Finally, in the 60 kg category for men aged 16-17 years, in the first round, Joden Dutoit, a young boxer of Thai-German-French descent, who has the Muay Tha
i nickname ‘Joden of Muang Phaya Lae School,’ entered the ring to face Temur Makhmudov, a boxer from Uzbekistan. As a result, Joden Dutoit was chased and knocked to the ground by the Uzbek boxer and lost to RSC in the second round, causing him to be eliminated in the first round as well.
Summary of the performance of the Thai national youth Muay Thai athletes on the first day of competition. A total of 6 people entered the ring, 4 of them were victorious and advanced to the next round, while 2 were eliminated in the first round.
Source: Thai News Agency