Bahan Assignment

GAME
The traditional martial art of Thai boxing (muay Thai) is Thailand’s national
sport. It is a spectacular form of unarmed combat that is accompanied by a
traditional music ensemble—as well as frenzied ringside betting. Any part
of the body is a fair target, and only the head may not be used to strike a
blow. Before a muay Thai bout the boxers perform the ram muay, a five-
minute dance that pays tribute to their teacher and to the guardian spirit of
Thai boxing. After falling from favour, the sport was revived in the 1930s
under modern regulations based on the Marquess of Queensberry rules; it
has also spread to the West, where it is often called kickboxing. Several
standard boxers have won world boxing championships, including Khaosai
Galaxy, who was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in
1999.

The traditional game of takraw, in which participants attempt to keep a

woven rattan ball from touching the ground without using their hands, is
very popular among young men; it is an internationally competitive sport
within the Southeast Asian region. In the 20th century Thailand also adopted
several Western sports. Football (soccer) is a highly popular spectator sport,
and tennis, swimming, and badminton are pursued throughout the country.
Thai athletes have enjoyed success in many of these sports at the Southeast
Asian Games.

Thailand first competed in the Summer Olympic Games in 1952 and in the

Winter Games in 2002. Thailand has had its best success in boxing events,
and in 1996 featherweight boxer Somluck Kamsing earned the country’s
first Olympic gold medal. The country has hosted the Asian Games several
times.

LAND

Thailand, which has about the same land area as Spain or France, consists of
two broad geographic areas: a larger main section in the north and a smaller
peninsular extension in the south. The main body of the country is
surrounded by Myanmar (Burma) to the west, Laos to the north and
east, Cambodia to the southeast, and the Gulf of Thailand to the south.
Peninsular Thailand stretches southward from the southwestern corner of the
country along the eastern edge of the Malay Peninsula; Myanmar extends
along the western portion of the peninsula as far as the Isthmus of Kra, after
which Thailand occupies the entire peninsula until reaching its southern
border with Malaysia at roughly latitude 6° N.
PEOPLE

When the modern political boundaries of Thailand were fixed at the end of
the 19th century and in the first part of the 20th, the country included
peoples of diverse cultural, linguistic, and religious backgrounds.
This diversity is characteristic of most Southeast Asian countries, where
shifting political boundaries have done little to impede the centuries-long
migrations of people. Thailand’s central position on the mainland has made
it a crossroads for these population movements.