Topic 4: More about Sanda

How different are Muay Thai and Sanda?

In Muay Thai, there is grappling with the opponent and knee and elbow strikes. But for Sanda, we only throw straight punches, hooks and upper cuts. We don’t use our elbows and knees. If the opponent is too close and we happen to grapple, we are not allowed to grab them and knee them. We can grab them, maybe hit their stomach, or throw an upper cut, but we’re not allowed to use our elbows.

For the lower body, sometimes when we grapple, we can do takedowns using our leg. For example, we can grab them and sweep them and things like that.

It’s quite similar to Muay Thai, but I would say Sanda is safer because we don’t use our elbows and knees. Compared to MMA, we don’t have groundwork. When the opponent drops to the ground, we don’t continue hitting them or lock their necks and things like that.

In Sanda, if I manage to punch my opponent and he falls down, the judge will actually pause the match and wait for him to get up if he can, then the fight will continue.

How is the point system like?

Anywhere we hit below the knee is not counted as a point. So usually we will strike areas like the thighs, guts, or the head. We also score by takedown throws. And sometimes when we grapple, and I were to punch my opponent, there is no point given.

The grappling is just to wait for the referee to break us up, because there is a three-second grappling time. If I didn’t manage to take my opponent down during the three seconds, whatever kicks or punches I manage to throw at him while we’re grappling will not be counted as a point.

For Sanda, we have Lei Tai, like a stage platform. We are not allowed to drop off the platform more than once. If we drop off twice in the same round, then we immediately lose that round, no matter how many points we are leading by.

How does Sanda reach out to new athletes?

Currently, schools don’t offer Sanda as a CCA, but there are clubs outside.

In my opinion, Sanda is not a very popular sport in Singapore. My friends who have never heard of Sanda before asked me what it is when I first told them I do Sanda. I have repeated myself to different people because they’ve never heard of this sport before, and sometimes I just ask them to search it on YouTube.

Recently, we have been trying to post more content on social media. We have this Instagram page called @wushu.sg. The Wushu federation has an athletes’ commission, and I’m part of this team as well. We post videos and photos of people doing Wushu and Sanda to let people know that there is a combat version of Wushu called Sanda. Hopefully this would spark people’s interest when they come across these posts.

Have you had friends who came up and told you they want to try out your sport?

No. Some of my friends asked me, “Why do you fight but wear so much protective gear? For what? Then it’s not really fighting.” Their perspective of fighting is we should be really manly like Muay Thai, and just fight with no head gear and bodyguard.

When they see that Sanda is a sport where you wear some protective gear and goes by a point-scoring system, instead of like MMA where you try to knock your opponents out, they don’t find it very thrilling or exciting. So, none of them actually came up to me and say that they want to try the sport.

I tell them that Sanda is still a combat sport, there’s no difference and it’s just that it’s safer. Why do I have to put my life on the line to enjoy a sport? We get injured in every fight, most of the time, but it depends on how severe your injuries can get.

Comparing Sanda and Muay Thai, for example. Why do I want to give myself more injuries, when it’s quite similar? We’re still throwing punches and kicks at each other, doing take-down sweeps and things like that. It’s actually the same thing, just that we go by a point-scoring system and wear gears to lessen the injuries that we get in a fight. In my opinion, I think Sanda is better because I don’t really want to get badly injured for doing something I enjoy.