Thai Boxing

Boxing is popular in many countries. Two fighters wear boxing gloves on their hands. A bell rings. The boxers hit each other until one knocks out the other. Each part of the fight is three minutes long. It is  called a round.

Thai boxing is different.

The boxing match begins with music from drums and flutes. Then the two fighters kneel (kneel [v]: to go down into, or stay in, a position when one or both knees are on the ground លុតជង្គង់ eg. He knelt in front of the altar and prayed) and pray a God. Next they do a slow dance that copies the movements of Thai Boxing. During this dance, each fighter tries to show the other that he is best.

Then the fighter begins. In Thai boxing, the fighters can kick with their feet and hit each other with their elbows (elbow [n]: កែងដៃ) and knees (knee [n]: ជង្គង់). Of course, they hit with their hands too. Each round is three minutes long. Then the boxers have a two-minute rest. Most boxers can fight only five rounds because this kind of fighting is very difficult.

Thai boxing began over five hundred (500) years ago. If a soldier lost his weapons in a battle, he needed to fight with just his body. The soldiers learned how to use all the parts of their body. In 1560, the Burmese army captured Naresuen, the King of Thailand, in a war. King Naresuen was a very good boxer. He won his freedom from Burma by defeating all the best Burmese fighters. When he returned to Thailand, his people were very proud (proud [adj]: feeling pleasure and satisfaction because you or people connected with you have done or got something good ពេញចិត្ត eg. You must be very proud of your son) of him. 

Thai boxing became a popular sport.