Sports :: The Father of Muay Thai

Siam, Ayutthaya Kingdom 1774. The Burmese invasion brought destruction and the consequent fall
of the Siamese capital. Thousands of prisoners were brought to Burma as slaves for work and
entertainment.
Among the large number of kick boxers within the prisoners there was a man named Nai
Khanomtom. Son of the chief of his village, he saw his family get slaughtered by the burmese when
he was just a little boy and grew up in his life in a hardened way, always with the shadow of fear
from the Burmese troops.
Nai Khanomtom, like any other Thai prisoner, was deeply rooted into Thai culture and values. Proud
of his own country and people, he would never give up easily nor accept to be defeated.
That year the Burmese king wanted to organize a 7 days long religious festival with many forms of
entertainment and for the occasion he wanted to compare the Burmese boxing with the Muay Boran.
Nai Khanomtom was selected to fight against the Burmese boxing champion.
On the ring placed in from of the king throne Nai Khanomthom begun the Wai Kru to pay respect to
his teachers and ancestors dancing around his opponent. While the dance is a traditional ritual for
the Siamese also to respect the spectators, the Burmese were surprised and perplexed by the dance
and believed that was some sort of thai black magic.
However, as soon as they start the fight, Nai Khanomtom charged his opponent with every weapon
Muay Boran can offer. They call it "the martial art of the 8 limbs" because it uses hands, feet, knees
and elbows.
The Burmese champion was knocked out pretty quickly but the referee declared the fight invalid as
the Burmese were too distracted by the way kru dance.
In this moment of perplexion the king sent other 9 men to fight against Nai Khanomtom who
defeated all of them, one by one without taking any time break.
The last opponent was a famous Burmese kick boxing teacher and Nai Khanomtom managed to
defeat him with his kicks. After that, no one dared to fight against Nai Khanomtom.
The king was very impressed by the skills of Thai people and he remarked: "Every part of the Thai is
blessed with venom. Even with his bare hands, he can fell nine or ten opponents. But his Lord was
incompetent and lost the country to the enemy. If he had been any good, there was no way the City
of Ayutthaya would ever have fallen."
After this event, freedom was granted to Nai Khanomtom and his fellow thai prisoners.
Since then, every year on March 17 in Thailand is celebrated the National Muay Boran Day to honor
Nai Khanomtom and all Muay Boran ancient teachers whom developed this martial art to the well
known Muay Thai of today.