Thailand, Cambodia brawl over kickboxing event name at SEA Games

Thailand will boycott the kickboxing event at the upcoming Southeast Asian Games in Cambodia, officials confirmed Tuesday, in a bitter row with the hosts over whether to call the sport: Muay Thai or Kun Khmer.

Thai officials are angered by Cambodia’s plan to refer to the event – considered a national sport – in the official program as Kun Khmer instead of Muay Thai.

While the name Muay Thai is better known around the world, Cambodian officials insist that the sport has roots in Khmer culture.

The event is one of a series of combat sports in the regional games of 11 countries, along with regular kickboxing, karate, taekwondo, kun boktor and vovinam.

The Games will take place in May, with Cambodia hosting for the first time in 60 years.

Charoen Wattanasin, vice-chairman of Thailand’s National Olympic Committee, said the International Olympic Committee did not approve the term Kun Khmer.

“They violated international regulations for sports competitions,” he told AFP.

“Thai Boxing Association will not send athletes to compete.”

Cambodian sports officials refused to back down.

“We are the host country so we have the right to change it to Kun Khmer because the sport comes from the Khmer and is our culture,” Vath Chamroeun, secretary general of Cambodia’s Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee, told AFP.

“We have to satisfy our people.”

He said Cambodia would retaliate and not send fighters to Thailand when it hosts the 2025 games. The sport will be called Muay Thai at the event.

The two kingdoms have repeatedly clashed over cultural heritage, with 2011 having seen months of bloody military conflict over a disputed temple on the border.

Cambodia eventually won the dispute when the UN’s top court ruled.

Muay Thai is gaining Olympic recognition as a sport in 2021 – but its path to the Olympics is uncertain due to security concerns.

This allows for some movements that are prohibited in other forms of kickboxing, such as elbows and knees.

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