International Muay Thai Amateur Federation

The Federation was founded in 1993 ^[3] . In the same year, the first world championship was held under its auspices. Only 20 countries participated in it. For comparison, in the last IFMA championships, the number of participating countries exceeded 100.

An important milestone in the development of the organization and Muay Thai was 1995, when gender equality was recognized within the sport, and the species made a test debut at the eighteenth Games of Southeast Asia .

In 1998, IFMA achieved the inclusion of Muay Thai in the Asian Games as a demonstration sport.

In 1999, the Asian Olympic Council recognized IFFM and Thai boxing as a sport ^[4] .

In 2003, the Muay Thai World Championship was first held not in Southeast Asia , but in Kazakhstan .

In 2005, Thai boxing was included in the program of the Asian Games, the Asian Games in martial arts and indoor competitions and as a full member in the program of the twenty-third Games of Southeast Asia ^[4] .

The following year, Muay Thai and IFMA became members of the General Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF), which later transformed into the Sport Accord International Convention .

In 2008, at the IV TAFISA World Sport for All Games under the patronage of the IOC and UNESCO, there were more Muay Thai representatives than other types of athletes ^[5] . Thai boxing had similar success at the 2010 World Sport Accord World Martial Arts Games in Beijing .

Two years later, the official campaign began to recognize IFMA by the International Olympic Committee . Then - in 2012 - the World Cup was held in St. Petersburg, which became a rehearsal before the Second World Martial Arts Games 2013. Participants from 92 countries came to Russia.

The following year, IFMA received official recognition of the International Association of World Games. At the Second World Martial Arts Games 2013 in St. Petersburg, Muay Thai set a record for the number of spectators among all non-Olympic sports. Thai boxing was further boosted that year by the television show The Challenger Muaythai, which had 400 million viewers worldwide. The program became an Emmy Award nominee.

In 2014 - just one year after official recognition - Muay Thai was included in the World Games program, and the number of countries participating in the World Cup in Malaysia for the first time in the history of the species exceeded 100. At that time, Thai boxing was awarded the international Spirit of Sports Prize for his contribution to the development of society.

In 2015, the International University Sports Federation officially recognized IFMA, and under its auspices the first ever Muay Thai Student World Championship was held. Another record for the number of participants was broken this year at the King's Cup in Bangkok - teams from 120 countries took part in the competition.

In 2016, several events took place under the auspices of IFMA - the World Cup in Sweden, the World Cup in Russia ( Kazan ), the European Championship in Croatia and the Youth World Championship in the capital of Thailand. Also, athletes performing under the auspices of the International Amateur Muay Thai Federation took part in the Asian Beach Games in Vietnam and the Pan American Games in Peru . In the sixteenth year, IFMA Secretary General Stephen Fox becomes vice president of Sport Accord. December 6, 2016 The IOC Executive Committee gives provisional recognition to Muay Thai ^[6] . From that moment, IFMA became a member of the Association of International Sports Federations recognized by the IOC.

In 2017, the World Cup was held in Minsk , and Muay Thai became the discipline of the World Games held in Wroclaw . Bangkok Youth World Championship that year broke the record for the number of participants - 1200 athletes from different countries came to it ^[1] .

The International Amateur Muay Thai Association is collaborating with UN Women on the fight against gender-based violence. In particular, the specialists of the United Nations Entity developed a special training program for Thai boxing trainers, which is aimed at promoting the solution of this problem. In total, more than 200,000 people teach under the auspices of IFMA ^[7] .

Together with the World Council of Muay Thai, measures are being taken to combat child addiction. Since 1999, the Find the Right Path program has been in operation, including training seminars and charity events ^{[8] [9]} .

IFMA, together with Prince of Monaco's Albert organization, “Sport is your Gang,” aimed at combating child abuse ^{[10] [11]} .

Muay Thai includes five major disciplines recognized by IFMA:

• Muay Thai (known as Muay Thai, Thai boxing) is a competitive sport. It allows punches, arms, legs, elbows, knees and elements of wrestling equipment in the rack. Professional fights last 5 rounds of three minutes, amateur fights last three rounds. Protective equipment - helmets, elbow pads and cuirasses - are used only by amateurs. Professionals fight only with gloves.

• Muay Boran - the generalized name for several types of hand-to-hand combat in Muay Thai. Instead of gloves, athletes use ropes to wrap their fists. In Thailand, Muay Boran includes five types of martial arts: Muay Tasao, Muay Korat, Muay Lopburi, Muay Chai and Muay Panacorn.

• Krabi krabong is the art of gun ownership. The first word in the name of the discipline is translated as “sword”, the second - “stick”.

• Muay talai - entertainment that is practiced on the beaches and ponds. Participants compete in agility - the one who remains to sit on a log after a duel wins.

• Muay aerobics - a set of exercises based on the technique of training Thai boxing fighters. During training, boxing paws, pads and bags are used ^[12] .

• IFMA official website
• IFMA official Facebook profile
• IFMA official Instagram profile
• IFMA official Twitter profile
• Official IFMA YouTube Channel
• Previous IFMA Website
• IOC Muay Thai Recognition Conference