Credit: Jeremiah Sim
Business Manager and News Editor
Muay Thai came to the masses on Monday night at the GUU, as Glasgow University Muay Thai hosted an inter-uni charity fight, inviting students from Glasgow University, Caledonian, Strathclyde, Stirling and Edinburgh. The event was held along with Glasgow Marrow, who raised £74.91 in bake sales from the night, with the proceeds going towards their efforts to raise awareness and participation in bone marrow transplants.
The sport, with origins in its native homeland of Thailand, has grown increasingly popular in Europe, and was granted patronage by the International University Sports Federation (FISU) in 2015 and the first ever Muay Thai University World Cup was held in March of that year in Bangkok.
In Glasgow, it was a night of high octane action, kicked off by Caledonian’s Roch Foster and Strathclyde’s Cameron MacKenzie. In an all encompassing battle, the pair set the standards high for those who were to follow, with Foster eventually prevailing. Other stand out fights came from Shane Seeley (Glasgow), whose impressive repertoire was on full show against Isaac Crichlow (Glasgow), a number of impressive punches proving too much for the home fighter.
As the night moved it was the turn of the girls to send the audience into raptures. Izzy Taylor (Strathclyde) and Michaela Petaroudi (Stirling) offered one of the best fights of the night, culminating in a nail-biting finale, which left the crowd on the edge of their seats and hoarse. Dixon DS (Glasgow) had a rousing fight with Caledonian’s Marcus Wong, with Wong giving the biggest trip of the night to DS. Srijan Rai (Glasgow) had an astounding fight with Chris Lewis (Griphouse Muay Thai Club), with Glasgow really defending their corner, and both sides pulling out all the stops.
Glasgow University Muay Thai society hailed the night a major success, and told The Glasgow Guardian “The turnout was great! You could hear the crowd engage with what was going on in the ring.”
The society had a lot of positive responses, and hope to continue hosting the event in future. “It’s always nice to see so many fighters and their supporters join us from other unis and Muay Thai clubs. We hope based on the positive feedback we’ve been receiving we’ll be able to welcome everyone back next semester.”
Glasgow Marrow also enjoyed the success of the night, and told The Glasgow Guardian “We really enjoyed the night and we’re thrilled we raised some money for Marrow in the process.”
