The afternoon of Saturday 25 June saw the return of competitive Thai Boxing to Wanaka with Sitnarong Muay Thai Wanaka hosting an interclub free sparring day at Club Phzique at the Oakridge resort.

A large crowd gathered to see fighters from Christchurch, Wanaka and Queenstown matched up on the day and go for three by two minute rounds under modified Thai rules.   All fighters wore shin guards and 16 oz gloves (with head gear and body protection optional) and all fights were scored a draw. The rules dictated that the referee maintained control of each fight meaning there were no serious injuries and all participants gained valuable experience in a safe and controlled environment making everyone a winner on the day.

When asked for the purpose of this type of event, Sitnarong Wanaka Instructor Brett Harrold said “This is a great opportunity for general students to test their skills against other opponents and a chance for students who are thinking about fighting but want to try some sort of step between sparring in their own gym and a full contact Thai fight”. He also added “It helps the individual clubs who attend raise their standard as the students who enter gain massively from participating in an event like this”.

Sitnarong Muay Thai has previously run these events successfully in Christchurch on a regular basis and now hopes to give the same opportunity to the southern clubs in Otago and Southland. 

Sitnarong looks forward to entrants from all martial arts who wish for fight experience in a controlled environment. The hope is to hold another event towards the end of the year with the location and date to be confirmed. Interested parties should contact Brett directly on [email protected] for more details.

A big thank you needs to go out to Peter Legnavsky from Club Phyzique for holding the event at his venue, as well as all the participants with a special thanks to Dougal McKenzie from Sitnarong Christchurch, Hemi Vincent from Wanaka and Fight Science from Queenstown.