04/05/2002- Yet another Sanda VS Muay Thai Challenge. The Chinese & Thai champion fighters of both countries contend for hegemony in Macau's Zong Yi Stadium that night. China's 2001 King of Sanda Yuan Yubao went head to head with Thailand's famous middle weight Muay Thai champion Nengtakan, the "North Eastern Tiger", as the highlight bout of this challenge.

Macau- Xinhua News Agency May 4th 2002 report. The Chinese & Thai champion fighters of both countries contend for hegemony in Macau's Zong Yi Stadium tonight. China's 2001 National King of Sanda Yuan Yubao went head to head with Thailand's famous middle weight Muay Thai champion Nengtakan as the highlight bout of that night. Yuan managed to win by points in the first 2 rounds of that bout. But in the 3rd round his face was cut opened by the increasingly agressive Thai's elbow strike, forcing his coach to throw in the towel for that bout, resulting in a turnaround victory for Nengtakan.

That was what they called the highest standard of fighters from China & Thailand today, for the bouts are as exciting and intense as they get (not all in the positive sense). The Thais as usual had superb physical fitness & tenacious fighting spirit, whereas the Chinese on the other hand were cunning and dextrous (so were their constantly interfering referees), overcoming solidity with fluidity. The battle of brain & brawn before the 3500+ audience heralded another spectacular confrontation between Chinese Sanda and Muay Thai. Before the highlight bout, the Chinese & Thai teams had also send out 6 well-known fighters each,competing in 52kg, 56kg, 60kg, 65kg, 70kg & 72kg category bouts. The Thai team is represented by Attachai, Yoddecha, Yodsaenchai, Petchseenil, Dendanai and Duan-esarn. The Chinese team, represented by Liu Zhen, Kang Yonggang, Han Lei, Yu Dawei, Lin Jianshen and Zheng Yuhao defeated ALL of their Thai opponents, bringing the final result of this latest challenge to 6 : 1 in favour to the Chinese. (End) 

According to a first-hand account of the bouts, this challenge turned out to be yet another sickening ego trip for the Chinese. Instead of fighting the normal 5 rounds, the Chinese officials again conned the Thais into fighting 3 round bouts, which was a blaring advantage to the physically less fit Sanda fighters. In the 52kg bout, though Liu Zhen led by points in the first two rounds, in the third round his warmed-up opponent grabbed his leg & swept him beautifully to the canvas with low kicks twice. By right the Thai should have won, but the ugly judges gave the bout to Liu instead! In the 56kg bout, Kang Yonggang was scoring points all the way for 3 rounds against his slow Thai opponent, so his victory cannot be disputed. In the 60kg bout, Han Lei fared well for the initial rounds like Liu Zhen, but again in the third round, the Thai became fired up, knocking Han down once & giving him a nosebleed. This was obviously a morale booster & victory for the Thais, but the ugly Chinese judges shamelessly gave the bout to Han Lei! The audience started to boo angrily at the judging, forcing the Chinese officials to change the 3 round bouts back into 5 round bouts halfway into this challenge!! What a farce!

In the 65kg bout the Thai was obviously too eager to win against Yu Dawei, or perhaps he was just sick of the whole fiasco. He threw high kicks which missed Yu, & constantly pressed forward without much defence. This gave Yu chances to land numberous clean side kicks on the Thai, causing him many points. Though Yu was swept to the canvas impressively once by his opponent, there was no doubt as to yet another Chinese victory. In the 70kg bout, Lin Jianshen kept trying to throw his opponent, but did not succeed as the Thai kept hanging on to the ropes. It was quite messy & the less than adept Thai don't seem to be able to grapple well or use knees at all. So a victory for Lin was obvious. The 72kg bout was won by Zheng Yuhao without a fight as his Thai opponent walked out of the bout in protest of the unfair judging. Finally we come to the exciting last 75kg bout. Yuan Yubao had a good time for the initial two rounds as usual but in the third round Nengtakan showed him why he was called the "North Eastern Tiger". A barrage of fierce double low kicks changed Yuan's expression immediately; the pain was visible enough. Then came the elbow knee combos. The Thai's elbow cut opened Yuan's face & his knee rammed hard on his right ribs. And that was it - Yuan's fighting spirit was annihilated there & then, effecting a TKO for Nengtakan. Yuan Yubao's career as the King of Sanda is pretty short-lived, to say the least. He still retains the title, but it now becomes an empty one.

To conclude, the final result in fairness should be 4 : 3, not 6 : 1. This is getting to be a vicious cycle - the Chinese keep winning unfairly on their own turf & then getting punished for it when they go fight in Thailand. It is terribly unhealthy for the development of Chinese Sanda & Kungfu. Though we call it the Macau Massacre (for the Thai team), if there was anything the Chinese team have massacred, it was their own sense of justice, sportsmanship & righteousness. By letting fighters win when they don't deserve to, the Chinese officials bring shame not only to Chinese Sanda, Kungfu, Sports, but to the Chinese people as a whole before the world. May 4^th 2002 - a day of dishonor to be remembered indeed!!

*The VCD of this challenge "Macau Massacre", around 41 mins, is available now at $5. Those interested pls email me here.

  Next Section

Back to Main Page