Five years ago, muaythai wasn’t popular in Moldova. Presently, Moldovan athletes are showing high performance, even at international championships. Furthermore, this sport is becoming more popular at a global level, with more competitions across tiers, and currently muaythai is under consideration to be included in the 2024 Olympic Games that will take place in France.
In a press conference at IPN, National Muaythai Federation vice president, trainer Andrei Grosu mentioned that the French National Olympic Committee will meet in November, in Paris, along with representatives from the International Muaythai Federation and the International Olympic Committee, to decide upon including thai boxing as an exhibition sport at the 2024 Olympic Games.
The Federation vice president added that according to International Olympic Committee policy, the host country has the right to include a sport that would attract more viewers. For example, Japan was allowed to include karate as an Olympic sport at the 2020 Games. Therefore, for the 2024 Games, the host nation is examining the possibility to include muaythai. According to him, this type of sport has gained popularity in France in recent years, whose national team sends impressive teams to any championship, European or global.
Andrei Grosu says five years ago there was only one muaythai championship, which gathered all age categories at once. Now, there is an age split: juniors, seniors, youth, and there are plans to further organize male- or female-only events.
Recently, Moldovan athletes have brought home one gold medal, two silver, and four bronze medals from the Junior World Muaythai Championship. The competition took place on August 2-10, in Thailand, Bangkok. Moldova ended up 11th out of 86 countries in the final team ranking. Moldova was represented by 12 athletes and four coaches.
According to National Muaythai Federation president Artur Grosu, there is a debutant among the winning athletes – Vladimir Ogorodnicov, who has managed to win gold. Athletes David Chiperi, who is a second-time contestant, and Marius Covali who has participated for the third time, have won silver medals, as in previous years. Gheorghe Pleșca, Liviu Titică, Igor Duca, and Andrei Avramov, one of the youngest members of the team, have brought home the bronze. The coaches thanked for the support provided by parents, as well as the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Research, and the FEA Association, whose president is Dorin Damir. Also present at the press conference, the athletes thanked their parents and trainers for support. They have stated their desire to progress further in their sport and achieve higher results in future competitions.
Muaythai is a national Thai sport. It is a fighting style developed from traditional Thai martial arts, and involves punching, kicking, and striking with elbows and knees. For a day-by-day report on the World Championship, visit the official website of the National Muaythai Federation at www.muaythai.md.
