- Joined
- Aug 15, 2003
- Messages
- 170
- Reaction score
- 0
US Muay Thai at The World Games
Just wanted to share a bit about the US Team that participated at The World Games in Wroclaw, Poland.
A bit of the backstory...for those that don't know, The World Games consists of sports recognized by the International Olympic Committee, but not yet a part of the Olympic Games. This was the first year that Muaythai was recognized by the IOC, thus gaining a spot in The World Games.
The governing body for Olympic Muay Thai is IFMA. IFMA holds their world championships annually, in addition to regional events such as European Championships, SEA Games, etc
TWG requires that only the top athletes in their sport be given a spot to compete, severely limiting the number of competitors in each division. To give you an example, at the IFMA championships, brackets of 30 plus fighters is not unusual. At TWG, brackets were only 8.
2 Americans were selected by IFMA to compete, based upon their successes at previous events. They were Troy Jones at 75 kg and Janet Todd at female 51 kg.
Jones won his first fight on points, and lost his second to eventual TWG gold medalist Vital Hurkou from Belarus.
Janet won her first fight vs Merirm El Moubarik of Morrocco, which was a rematch of a fight she lost from the IFMA championships this past May in Belarus. Moubarik was the 2016 IFMA World champion and the 2017 silver medalist.
Her second was vs this years IFMA gold medalist Apasara Koson from Thailand. Todd lost a points decision to the Thai, which put her in a fight off vs Polands Gabriela Kuzawinska for the bronze. Todd then stopped the Polish fighter in the third round, thus becoming the first American medalist in Muay Thai at The World Games.
Just wanted to share a bit about the US Team that participated at The World Games in Wroclaw, Poland.
A bit of the backstory...for those that don't know, The World Games consists of sports recognized by the International Olympic Committee, but not yet a part of the Olympic Games. This was the first year that Muaythai was recognized by the IOC, thus gaining a spot in The World Games.
The governing body for Olympic Muay Thai is IFMA. IFMA holds their world championships annually, in addition to regional events such as European Championships, SEA Games, etc
TWG requires that only the top athletes in their sport be given a spot to compete, severely limiting the number of competitors in each division. To give you an example, at the IFMA championships, brackets of 30 plus fighters is not unusual. At TWG, brackets were only 8.
2 Americans were selected by IFMA to compete, based upon their successes at previous events. They were Troy Jones at 75 kg and Janet Todd at female 51 kg.
Jones won his first fight on points, and lost his second to eventual TWG gold medalist Vital Hurkou from Belarus.
Janet won her first fight vs Merirm El Moubarik of Morrocco, which was a rematch of a fight she lost from the IFMA championships this past May in Belarus. Moubarik was the 2016 IFMA World champion and the 2017 silver medalist.
Her second was vs this years IFMA gold medalist Apasara Koson from Thailand. Todd lost a points decision to the Thai, which put her in a fight off vs Polands Gabriela Kuzawinska for the bronze. Todd then stopped the Polish fighter in the third round, thus becoming the first American medalist in Muay Thai at The World Games.
