PhD, Associate Professor M.Yu. Stepanov¹
PhD, Associate Professor I.V. Demin¹
D.A. Putilin^1
1Tchaikovsky State Institute of Physical Culture, Tchaikovsky

Keywords: Thai boxing, federal public organization, Sports Federation of Thai Boxing – Muay Thai of Russia (SFTBMTR), International Federation of Muay Thai Associations (IFMTA), European Muay Thai Federation (EMF), International World Games Association (IWGA), Russian Union of Martial Arts.

Background. Thai boxing came to Russia in the early 1990's, although its historical heritage is thousands years old. Modern Thai boxing bouts are significantly different from the historical traditions in the key movements, rules and equipment although still driven by and respect multiple ancient traditions and rituals. The modern Thai boxing commonly called Muaythai originates from the following two interconnected systems: Krabi Krabong and Muay Boran.

Objective of the study was to analyze the Thai boxing sport progress and prospects in Russia.

Results and discussion. Thai boxing was qualified an official sport discipline in Russia on June 26, 1996 and the Russian Olympic Committee registered the Sports Federation of Thai Boxing – Muay Thai of Russia (SFTBMTR) on August 30, 1996. In September 1996, the SFTBMTR became part of the IAMTF when it was headed by President S.V. Zhukov. Since 2010 till now the Federation has been headed by D.A. Putilin, World Champion, head of the IFMA Technical Committee and EMF Vice President. Since 2019 the Thai boxing embraced new disciplines of Muaythai and Pro-Amat, and the SFTBMTR was promoted to a federal public organization.

Regional Thai boxing federations are formally accredited in 61 constituents of the Russian Federation, with the Thai boxing specialists trained at a few special physical education and sports universities including the UFU’s Physical Culture Institute’s Department of Oriental Martial Arts; Department of Martial Arts Theory and Practice at CGIFC etc. National Thai boxing elite is tested on an annual basis by the Federal Medical and Biological Agency of Russia (FMBA). The SFTBMTR athletes’ participations in the top-ranking international competitions (World Championships, Finals, World and European Cups) are funded by the Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation, regional governments and Stroyservis CJSC, a principal sponsor of the SFTBMR.

As things now stand, the SFTBMR athletes have competed in the TAFISA World Games (2008, South Korea); Sport Accord World Martial Arts Games (2010 China; 2013 Russia, 2015 Croatia, 2017 Poland and 2019 South Korea). In addition to competitions, Russia has hosted the 2012 IFMA World Championship in St. Petersburg, 2013 II World Martial Arts Games Sport Accord in St. Petersburg; and the 2016 IFMA World Cup in Kazan. In 2020 the city of Ulyanovsk will host, in cooperation with the RSBI, the World Martial Arts Festival.

The competitive successes of the national athletes in the 2012 European Cup and Championship in Turkey gave Russia the right to host the 2012 World Championship in St. Petersburg. The well-managed work of the Federation and the opportunity to double the national team at this event secured the first national victory in the history of the World Championships. Excellent service of the host organization was acknowledged by the International Federation and, as a result, St. Petersburg was nominated a host city for the 2013 Second World Martial Arts Games that were again won by the Russian team. The 2016 World Cup and Championship in Kazan had again resulted in the first team standing of the Russian national team. The Russian victories at the 2018 World Cup in Mexico and 2019 in Thailand, home nation of the Thai boxing, greatly reinforced the SFTBMR’s standing and international image.

Successes on the Russian national team have largely secured by the well-designed and managed SFTBMR’s cooperation with the relevant international organizations, coaching communities, national team, FMBA, special research group, Russian Student Union, sponsor Stroyservice CJSC and the other relevant public organizations. Generally, the special research group service and progress depends on the following interrelated components: (1) Competent and well motivated human resource; (2) Good timing and provisioning for the research; and (3) Material, technical and financial support.

When either of the above components is short, the service may not be successful. The Russian national team’s precompetitive training system analysis made by the special research group with support from the coaching staff led by Honored Coach V.Y. Ilyin [1-5] made it possible to recommend that the excellence trainings should be focused on the individual bests versus the world records in the specific sport discipline; with model/ individual benchmarks effectively applied to rate the individual fitness and progress and make timely corrections to the training systems.

It should be noted, however, that the Russian Thai boxing elite is still in need of a model team leader. The comprehensive medical examination data and analyses obtained by the SFTBMR detect only health disorders/ pathologies and used as a basis for admissions to competitions. The PWC-170 functionality tests rate only the individual responses to the cyclic physical workloads at heart rate of 170 beats per minute with the indirect maximal oxygen consumption ratings, albeit these test data are clearly insufficient for the precompetitive training and conditioning purposes. 

The SFTBM Russia acknowledges the need in a special research to produce model fitness profiles for the national team members to standardize the following:

- Functionality and fitness test methods and analyses;

- Test schedules;

- Practical guidelines for khan certifications; and

- Sport-specific physical qualities rating and analyzing systems.

Conclusion. To keep up its leadership in the world Thai boxing, the national sport community shall be supported by theoretically and practically sound research to improve the Thai boxing elite and sport reserve training and excellence service. The latest revisions in the Russian Register of Sports of October 1, 2019 urge the sport community to develop model characteristics for the Thai boxing elite in Pro-Amat and Muay thai disciplines. The extensive cooperative experience accumulated by the special research group and Thai boxing coaching community since 2012 has greatly expanded the knowledgebase and visioning of the sport elite training systems, and as soon as such progress models appear, the national sport elite will have a good foothold for further progress strategy in the sport discipline.

References

1. Ilyin V.Yu., Stepanov M.Yu., Yakupov A.M. Dinamika kompozitnogo sostava tela bokserov i taybokserov v period 14-dnevnykh sborov [Dynamics of composite body composition of boxers and muay thai boxers during 14-day training camp]. «Sport, chelovek, zdorovye» [Sport, people, health]. Proc. VI International Congress, October 18-20 2013. St. Petersburg, Russia. St. Petersburg, 2013. pp. 152-153.
2. Ilyin V.Yu., Stepanov M.Yu., Yakupov A.M. Nauchno-metodicheskoe obespechenie uchebno-trenirovochnykh sborov muzhskoy sbornoy komandy Rossii po tayskomu boksu [Scientific and methodological support for training camp of Russian men's muay Thai team]. Sport, chelovek, zdorovye [Sport, people, health]. Proc. VI International Congress. October 18-20 2013. St. Petersburg, Russia. St. Petersburg, 2013. pp. 183-185.
3. Ilyin V.Yu., Stepanov M.Yu. Sovershenstvovanie trenirovochnogo protsessa v tayskom bokse na osnove trenazherov s obratnoy svyazyu [Actions to improve muay thai boxing training process based on simulators with feedback]. «Voprosy funktsionalnoy podgotovke v sporte vysshikh dostizheniy [Issues of functional training in elite sports]. Nat. res.-practical conf. Kemerovo: SibSUPC publ., 2014. p.  45-47.
4. Ilyin V.Yu., Skvortsov A.A., Stepanov M.Yu. Vybor optimalnoy vesovoy kategorii v tayskom bokse [Choosing optimal weight category in muay thai]. Podgotovka edinobortsev: teoriya, metodika i praktika [Martial Arts Training: Theory, Methods, and Practice]. Proc. VI nat. res.-pract. conf. (Tchaykovskiy TSIPC., April 6 2018). Tchaikovskiy: TSIPC publ., 2018. pp. 104-107.

Corresponding author: stepanov_m@inbox.ru

Abstract

Objective of the study was to analyze the Thai boxing sport progress and prospects in Russia.

Results and conclusions. From the 1990s to the present, there has been a number of historical events in the work of the Russian Muaythai Federation, which have been affecting the competitive success rate. In Russia, Thai boxing is recognized as an official sport. In 1996, the All-Russian public organization "Russian Muay Thai Federation" was founded. In 2019, new Thai boxing disciplines appeared: Muay Thai and Pro-Amat. Regional Thai boxing federations are accredited in 61 constituent entities of the Russian Federation. Specialists in the field of Thai boxing are trained in specialized universities. To date, the Russian Muay Thai Federation athletes have participated in many world competitions.

The authors note that successful performance of the Russian team largely depends on the well-coordinated cooperation of the Sports Federation of Thai Boxing – Muay Thai of Russia with the international organizations, coaching staff, national team, Federal Bio- Medical Agency, Interdisciplinary Research Team, Russian Student Sports Union, ZAO "Stroyservis" and other public organizations.

At the same time, the Sports Federation of Thai Boxing – Muay Thai of Russia stands in need of working on the identification of model characteristics of functional fitness of the Russian team members and on the unification of the methods of evaluation of their functional state and functional fitness; duration and frequency of evaluation; development of a methodological guideline to the certificate of each Khan; development of a system for assessing the manifestations of specific motor qualities.

The authors conclude that the high level of sports achievements, as the outcome of work of the Russian Muay Thai Federation, is largely owing to the coordinated work of its structures. However, to maintain the leading position of Thai boxing it is necessary to rely on the scientifically substantiated training support for both elite athletes and sport reserve.