Our newest interview features Soe Than Win, who has been one of the leading Lethwei promoters since the 1990s and is now Vice President of the World Lethwei Championship organization. He discusses the many challenges he faced while promoting Lethwei matches in the past, and what the future holds for the sport.
Lethwei: The Potential of a Weekly Live Broadcast
Since the opening of the country, Lethwei has grown internationally on the back of newly formatted competitions aimed at a global audience. Its development of the sport has followed a very different trajectory than Thailand with Muay Thai, and Cambodia with Pradal Serey — sports that slowly built up over time to develop into what…
Soe Than Win
U Soe Than Win is one of the pioneering forces in the promotion of Lethwei, and his unbridled love of the sport has been unwavering for the last three decades. He was born in Myaungmya, a town in the Irrawaddy region, in 1975. His Lethwei training began in Yangon under Saya U Win Zin Oo…
Lethwei: The Potential of a Weekly Live Broadcast
by Vincent Giordano Each country in Southeast Asia has developed and promoted their indigenous sports in their own unique way. For example, one can learn from Muay Thai what has worked and what has not throughout its long history. Lethwei has been kept alive and is still heavily supported by rural communities. I focused primarily…
Lethwei: Traditional Matchmaking
New Interviews Section Added
We hope our new Interviews section will introduce readers to a wide variety of people involved in Lethwei throughout the years. The first two interviews feature martial artist and author Zoran Rebac, whose travels to Myanmar began in the early ‘80s, and educator/humanitarian and Japan and Myanmar Lethwei coordinator Takamori Tatsuya, who began his involvement…
Zoran Rebac
Zoran Rebac was born in Zagreb, Croatia on March 24, 1954. He began his training in Tae Kwon Do as a teenager, eventually achieving the rank of 2nd Dan. Zoran was a member of the national team and won the National Championship twice before turning his attention to the art of Muay Thai.
Takamori Takuya
Takamori Takuya was born in Hyogo, Japan in 1960. His passion for teaching led him to start his own private school in Tokyo when he was 25 years old. 10 years later, he established his Futokuro Children’s NGO.
The Vanishing Flame
The master index of Vincent Giordano’s extensive training and research journeys through Southeast Asia and India, of which the Born Warriors project is a part. The website is forthcoming.
Lethwei by Martial Couderette
Martial Couderette’s beautifully crafted 240-page, black and white photo book is totally devoted to the art of Lethwei. His deep, eight-year immersion into the sport is clearly displayed on each page as he covers not only the fight tournaments but also the trainers, training camps, and fighters. This special, limited-edition book can be ordered directly…