Jump to content

Myanmar Lethwei Federation

Edit links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Myanmar Lethwei Federation မြန်မာနိုင်ငံရိုးရာလက်ဝှေ့အဖွဲ့ချုပ်
SportLethwei
JurisdictionMinistry of Sports and Youth Affairs
AbbreviationMLF
Founded1995 (1995)
HeadquartersThuwunna Indoor Stadium
Offices in Thein Pyu Stadium
LocationYangon, Myanmar
PresidentU Thein Aung
ChairmanU Sai Zaw Zaw[1]
Vice president(s)Ne Win
Official website
mtlfederation.org
You may need rendering support to display the Burmese script in this article correctly.

Myanmar Lethwei Federation (MLF) (Burmese: မြန်မာနိုင်ငံရိုးရာလက်ဝှေ့အဖွဲ့ချုပ်) formerly known as Myanmar Traditional Lethwei Federation is one of two major organizations which sanctions professional Lethwei bouts worldwide and the only one who oversees Lethwei competitions in Myanmar.[2][3]

History

[edit]

The Myanmar Lethwei Federation or MLF is a branch of the Myanmar's Ministry of Health and Sports.[4][5] The federation was initially founded in 1995 as the Myanmar Traditional Boxing Federation,[6] since Lethwei is translated to Boxing in Burmese language.[1] In 2019, the federation adapted its name to the MTLF - Myanmar Traditional Lethwei Federation, reflecting a more modern approach to the world and later updated it to Myanmar Lethwei Federation.

Since 1990's, MLF has been the sponsor of Thein Pyu Stadium in Yangon, Myanmar and holds an office space in the premise.[7]

In 2016, the MLF granted a ‘’Grade-A’’ promoter licence from the International Lethwei Federation Japan[8] allowing them to organize traditional Lethwei events in Japan.[9][10][11]

Banning Leduc

[edit]

On April 28, 2021, Dave Leduc criticized Muay Thai fighter Buakaw Banchamek and historical figure Nai Khanom Tom in a social media post. Leduc questioned the veracity and claimed that the Nai Khanom Tom folklore story is exaggerated and that he was simply a prisoner in ancient Burma, referring to Siamese prisoners captured by Burmese troops during the Burmese–Siamese War.[12][13] The post sparked considerable backlash from the Muaythai and combat sports community. In a letter, the Myanmar Traditional Lethwei Federation explained that Muaythai promoters made a complaint about Leduc. Muaythai promoter Nuttadaj Vachirarattanawong urged the MTLF to reprimand Leduc.[14][15] According to the MTLF, Leduc had "committed personal attacks" on Buakaw Banchamek and Muaythai history potentially tarnishing the relationship between Myanmar and Thailand.[16] The federation issued a two-year ban Lethwei competitions under the MTLF.[17] There were speculations that the ban was political due to Leduc denouncing the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état and supporting the freedom movement in the Myanmar.[18][19]

In response to the letter, Dave Leduc wrote on social media: "They’re not the World Lethwei Federation (WLF), the WLF is the most powerful, they have affiliated federations all accross [sic] the world [...] Nobody in the world tells me anything. The World Lethwei Federation can’t, and especially not the MTLF"[20] "They made an “official letter” saying they ban me from their federation “for 2 years” Am I supposed to care? Not only do I not care, I will go further and say: I will never fight in their federation (MTLF) ever again." Leduc added.[21][18][22][23]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b Ye Yint Htay (6 July 2015). "Life is tough for Myanmar's traditional boxing pros". Mizzima.
  2. ^ Cynthia Choo (1 November 2015). "Lethwei boxing wins fans worldwide". Asia One.
  3. ^ "Myanmar traditional boxing competition to be held in Mandalay". Global New Light of Myanmar. 10 September 2019.
  4. ^ "Tun Tun Min wins Myanmar Lethwei World Championship". Myanmar Daily News. 19 August 2019.
  5. ^ Kyaw Zin Hlaing (30 April 2015). "Slovakia the next stop for Lethwei stars". Myanmar Times.
  6. ^ "4th Myanmar Lethwei World Championship". Myanmar Traditional Radio. 21 August 2019.
  7. ^ "Sports Clubs & Associations - Myanmar Boxing Federation". Yangon Directory. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  8. ^ "(Japanese) Japan's first MTBF-certified raiding event "Lethwei Grand Prix in Japan 2016" is held at Korakuen Hall". Battle News. 12 September 2016.
  9. ^ "Myanmar-Japan Lethwei fights hosted in Japan". Global New Light of Myanmar. 2 March 2018.
  10. ^ "後楽園大会出場の外国人戦手が来日＆当日券情報(Japanese)". ILFJ.
  11. ^ "Burmese kick-boxing champ KOs Australian". Burmese DVB. 28 October 2016. Archived from the original on 3 November 2018.
  12. ^ "Dave Leduc - "This is my last fight."". Facebook. 2021-04-28. Retrieved 2022-02-13.
  13. ^ "Dave Leduc accuses Thai spies of poisoning him". Asian MMA. May 30, 2023. criticizing Buakaw Banchamek and questioning whether the legendary tale of Nai Khanom Tom was actually true. He was also banned from competing by one of the major sanctioning bodies for lethwei after making these comments
  14. ^ "ของขึ้น "เสี่ยโบ๊ท" แปลโพสต์แชมป์มวยพม่า ดูถูกมวยไทย แถมด่านายขนมต้ม-บัวขาว". Thairath (in Thai). May 1, 2021.
  15. ^ "ดีกรีไม่ธรรมดา! ส่องหวานใจ "เดฟ เลดั๊ค" นักมวยจอมเกรียนชาวแคนาดา (ภาพ)". Sanook.com (in Thai). May 1, 2021.
  16. ^ "Report:Dave Leduc Banned From Myanmar and International Lethwei Competition". My MMA News. Retrieved 2022-02-13.
  17. ^ Mark Jacobs (May 11, 2021). "Myanmar Sanctioning Body Blacklists Its World Champion". Black Belt.
  18. ^ a b "Lethwei Champion Dave Leduc blasts Thai media over ban from competition". Budo Dragon. July 9, 2021.
  19. ^ "Episode #78: Dave Leduc, a champion stands with the people". Insight Myanmar. 15 November 2021.
  20. ^ "Sanction sévère contre un combattant québécois". Journal de Montreal (in French). May 8, 2021. Ils ne sont pas la fédération mondiale de lethwei [WLF]. Celle-ci est la plus puissante, elle a des ententes avec des fédérations partout sur la planète. [...] Personne au monde ne me dit quoi faire. La WLF ne peut pas et encore moins la MTLF
  21. ^ "Dave Leduc – "FAKE NEWS"". Facebook. 31 May 2021. Retrieved 2022-02-13.
  22. ^ "CPC-អ្នកគាំទ្រភ្ញាក់ផ្អើល បន្ទាប់ពី Dave Leduc ហ៊ានធ្វើរឿងមួយនេះដាក់កីឡាករថៃដ៏ល្បីម្នាក់". CPC News (in Khmer). April 4, 2023.
  23. ^ Matt Pritchard (May 8, 2021). "King of Lethwei Dave Leduc BANNED from Myanmar and competing in the sport". VMTV. Archived from the original on April 7, 2023.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Myanmar_Lethwei_Federation&oldid=1255718945"