Sombat “Buakaw” Banchamek

 

Thailand’s Muay Thai champion Sombat “Buakaw” Banchamek has joined the spat between Thailand and Cambodia over the name of a boxing event in the 2023 SEA Games, to be hosted by Cambodia in May, by posting an online message insisting that he is a Thai national of the Kui or Suai tribe, famous for capturing and training elephants.

 

In his Facebook post on Tuesday, Lt Sombat Banchamek, better known as “Buakaw”, wrote about the history of the Kui or Suai people and his Kui ancestry, which he insists is not Cambodian.

 

He said that the Kui people inherited the skill of capturing wild elephants with the use of a rope made from cow hide, which is regarded as a sacred item inhabited by spirits of the Kui ancestors.

 

Source: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/boxer-buakaw-joins-kun-khmer-spat-between-thailand-and-cambodia/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2023-01-25

 

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Cool story, bro.

 

However, it doesn’t change the fact that Kun Khmer predates Muay Thai by ~500 years.

4 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

In his Facebook post on Tuesday, Lt Sombat Banchamek, better known as “Buakaw”, wrote about the history of the Kui or Suai people and his Kui ancestry, which he insists is not Cambodian.

Buakaw should know his history and lineage a bit better before posting anything on social media.

 

Kuy people - Wikipedia

 

"The Kuy are an ethnic minority in all three countries, where they live as "hill tribes" or Montagnards. Their language is classified as a Katuic language of the Mon-Khmer language family and, as such, is related to the Khmer language of Cambodia. The Thais, Lao, and Khmer traditionally recognize the Kuy as the aboriginal inhabitants of the region and refer to them as Khmer boran (Khmer), meaning "ancient Khmer" 

 

11 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

In his Facebook post on Tuesday, Lt Sombat Banchamek, better known as “Buakaw”, wrote about the history of the Kui or Suai people and his Kui ancestry, which he insists is not Cambodian

A selective history reading...

7 hours ago, BayArea said:

Buakaw should know his history and lineage a bit better before posting anything on social media.

 

Kuy people - Wikipedia

 

"The Kuy are an ethnic minority in all three countries, where they live as "hill tribes" or Montagnards. Their language is classified as a Katuic language of the Mon-Khmer language family and, as such, is related to the Khmer language of Cambodia. The Thais, Lao, and Khmer traditionally recognize the Kuy as the aboriginal inhabitants of the region and refer to them as Khmer boran (Khmer), meaning "ancient Khmer" 

 

Yes, if he was here right now, I'd walk right up to his face and tell him 'You're talking nonsense, Cambodia Boy'.

Akin to the football world not entering a competition in the USA due to them calling it Soccer not football.

14 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

a rope made from cow hide, which is regarded as a sacred item inhabited by spirits of the Kui ancestors

does it give the lottery numbers?

Obviously someone needs to rewrite the Thai history books taught in Thai schools.......   or maybe they already did...

This is bokator

Does not look much like Muay boran (traditional Muay Thai)

 

Muay boran

 

This is Burmese lethwei

 

And according to wiki, lethwei is as old as bokator. Many Burmese even claim Muay Thai originates from Lethwei.

 

In my opinion, Muay boran is much more similar to lethwei as opposed to bokator.

 

Sport Muay Thai is vastly different from Muay boran, as it incorporates western boxing techniques such as punching, dodging, stance, etc.

 

kun khmer, the Cambodian version of modern Muay Thai, has just appeared for 20+ years. Many of kun khmer champs were trained in the Thai camps long the Thai-cambidian border.