- published: 01 Oct 2015
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The traditional martial arts of the Indochinese peninsula are related among one another, and as a group to southern Chinese and Indian martial arts.
The most salient common feature is Indochinese kickboxing.
Thaing (Burmese: သိုင်း, pronounced: [θáiɴ]) is a Burmese term used to classify the traditional martial systems of Myanmar. Systems of thaing include bando, lethwei, banshay and naban.
Pradal serey is an unarmed martial art from Cambodia. In Khmer the word pradal means fighting or boxing and serey means free. Originally used for warfare, pradal serey is now one of Cambodia's national sports. Its moves have been slightly altered to comply with the modern rules.
Muay Lao is a traditional unarmed martial art from Laos. It incorporates punches, kicks, elbows and knee strikes. Muay Lao was an event at the 2009 Southeast Asian Games in Vientiane.
Tomoi is an unarmed martial art from Malaysia. It is practiced mainly in the northern states such as Kedah, Trengganu, and especially Kelantan.
Muay Boran (Thai: มวยโบราณ, RTGS: Muai Boran, IPA: [mūɛj bōːrāːn], lit. "ancient boxing") is an umbrella term for the unarmed martial arts of Thailand prior to the introduction of modern equipment and rules in the 1930s. Its modern counterpart is now referred to as muay Thai or Thai boxing.
Tatchakorn Yeerum (Thai: ทัชชกร ยีรัมย์), formerly Panom Yeerum (Thai: พนม ยีรัมย์ [pʰanom jiːram]; born February 5, 1976 in Surin province, Isaan, Thailand), better known in the West as Tony Jaa, in Thailand as Jaa Panom, is a Thai martial artist, physical educator, actor, choreographer, stuntman, director, and spent time as a Buddhist monk. His films include Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior, Tom-Yum-Goong (also called Warrior King or The Protector) Ong-Bak 2: The Beginning, and Ong Bak 3.
Tony Jaa was raised in a rural area, 200 km from Bangkok and as he grew up he watched films by Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Vince Lam and Jet Li at temple fairs, which was his inspiration to learn martial arts. He was so inspired by them that while he was doing chores or playing with friends, he would imitate the martial arts moves that he had seen, practicing in his father's rice paddy. When he was 10 years old, he threatened his father that he would kill himself if he was not taught Muay Thai.
"What they [Chan, Lee and Li] did was so beautiful, so heroic that I wanted to do it too," Jaa told Time in a 2004 interview. "I practiced until I could do the move exactly as I had seen the masters do it."