Clusters
- Martial Arts
IWGA Member Federation since 2013.
Learn more about Muaythai on the IFMA website.
Muaythai – combat sport with strong spectator appeal
Discipline at The World Games 2025: Combat
Muaythai is the national sport of Thailand. It has swept across the world like wildfire in recent years and has developed into a premier ring sport: unarmed combat with great spectator appeal, as well as being a form of self defence and a fitness programme. The foundations of Muaythai are built on five important pillars: tradition, respect, honour, excellence & fair-play.
Muaythai is a combat sport that utilises stand-up striking along with various clinching techniques. It is known as the ‘Art of Eight Limbs’ because it is characterised by the combined use of fists, elbows, knees and shins. Almost all techniques in Muaythai employ entire body movement, rotating the hip with each kick, punch, elbow and block.
As in boxing, matches are decided on points or knock-out, or the referee stopping the bout. Each of the 3 rounds is 3 minutes long, with a one-minute break in between. At the end of each round, the better-performing athlete receives 10 points. The losing athlete may receive 9/8/7 points for a round, based on his/her performance in that round. If athletes are equal in merit, both athletes can receive 10 points.
