Helsinki Muay Thai boxers are world elite

"You don't see aggressive or angry faces in our gym"

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By Tapio Keskitalo
     
      Tum-tum-tum. A steady, repetitive thudding sound echoes around the training gym of the Helsinki Thaiboxing Club on Mäkelänkatu, as the Muay Thai exponents practise their kicks and punches into a variety of bags and pads.
      "Ayeee, and kick - ayeee, and kick! And then again to the head", a long-haired trainer urges on a young girl who has been pummelling the heavy bag for minutes on end, sweat pouring off her.
      In the ring immediately to one side of this scene, Mappela Lehtonen (who fights in the weight category up to 48kg) is training with coach Petri Martinez. Mira Marjamäki (up to 67kg) and Anna Willberg (up to 60kg) watch the moves, waiting their turn.
     
Measured by medals hardware, Helsinki Thaiboxing Club is one of Finland's most successful sporting teams - and this includes any and all disciplines you care to mention. At the last amateur world championships, HTBC fighters brought home three gold medals and a brace of silvers.
      The club's colours will again be well represented when this year's WMF World Championships get under way in Thailand on Sunday, as Lehtonen, Marjamäki, Willberg, and Tommi Pitkälä (up to 63.5kg in the men's) seek to continue the strong record.
      In addition to the HTBC members, the Finnish team will feature Mia Eteläpelto (up to 71kg) from the Helsinki Combat Academy club, and two boxers from Tampere in Jesse Palanto (up to 60kg, men's) and Milja Heino (up to 54kg).
      How is it possible that a club with fewer than 500 active members can turn out amateur fighters to rank with the best in the world from one year to the next?
      The answer is reportedly a simple one: "We have such a good coach", say Lehtonen and Marjamäki of Petri Martinez, who is himself a former amateur world champion and also took the WMC professional title in the 67kg welterweight class in 2004.
      "Petri takes Thai boxing very seriously and he has always been keen to see that the women succeed alongside the men", Willberg continues.
     
To those who know little of the sport, Muay Thai, or Thai boxing, may look like a tough and seriously dangerous event. The repertoire of blows includes kicks and punches, delivered by the fists, elbows, shins, feet, and knees, and also a range of offensive and defensive throwing moves for when fighters are in a clinch.
      Despite the warlike look of a Muay Thai bout, the entire being of the HTBC female trio bound for the World Championships exudes anything but aggression.
      Willberg underlines that Thai boxing is a relatively safe discipline, in which there are few serious injuries.
      Nevertheless, the images linger on in the mind.
      "Yes, you are forever hearing these remarks, made half in jest, like ‘O-hoh, I guess I'll have to be careful around YOU, then' and ‘Just please don't hurt me' and so on, whenever you mention that you do martial arts. But look around you; you don't see aggressive or angry faces in our gym, and when we are in the ring we have helmets on and other protective gear", says Mappela Lehtonen, who has also become familiar to Finnish TV audiences as a contestant on the local version of the adventure gameshow Survivor.
     
Still, Thai boxing is physically tough - at least if you intend to compete. All around the gym come the whizzing sounds of skipping ropes being put to the test as boxers warm up.
      "Kick up - kick down - and follow through with the knee. And again. And then add in the punch combinations", barks the trainer, and a gym full of young women obey the commands.
      "Pampampam-Pam" sounds ring out as the heavy bag or Thai pads come in for punishment from fists and knees.
      "You really don't notice while you are doing it. It's only after training when your leg is all sore that you realise what you've put your body through", says a cheerily exhausted young girl to Lehtonen.
     
Pertti Nurmi is the President of the Muay Thai Association of Finland. He reports that there are between 3,000 and 4,000 people practising the sport in Finland. A large number of them are involved mainly as a way of keeping in shape and in condition, and only around 10% are active in competitions.
      "At least right now we have a roughly even mix of male and female members. And another thing is that older people have been finding their way to the gym", says Nurmi.
     
The training session is winding down. Lehtonen, Willberg, and Marjamäki sit on the floor to the side of the gym. In the ring, two guys with shaved heads are going at each other hammer and tongs.
      Martinez watches from ringside. The text on the back of his T-shirt reads: "Muay Thai - the Hardest Sport on Earth". Believe it.
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 16.3.2006

More on this subject:
 BACKGROUND: From military martial art to competitive sport

Links:
  Helsinki Thaiboxing Club
  Muay Thai Association of Finland
  World Muaythai Federation
  Muay Thai (Wikipedia)
  Thai Sports: Thai Boxing

TAPIO KESKITALO / Helsingin Sanomat
tapio.keskitalo@hs.fi