L 'Bokator - Angkorian martial art. Worth preserving ?

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Re: L 'Bokator - Angkorian martial art. Worth preserving ?

Post by Mekong.sushi.fighter »

Does anyone know if Bokator history is legit? I mean I've seen their tournaments and it looked it's 50% dancing and 50% fighting. They also claimed it orginated out of the battlefield, yet, I highly doubt the angkorian warriors fought like that during those time.
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Re: L 'Bokator - Angkorian martial art. Worth preserving ?

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Bokator Unesco Listing Delayed
18 June 2018
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation has delayed its official listing of Cambodia’s Kun L’bokator to its World Heritage List, a senior official said.

Vath Chamroeun, secretary-general of the National Olympic Committee of Cambodia, said today that Unesco has already decided to recognise the martial art for its cultural significance, but the agency has suspended the listing until November 2020.

He added that originally, the status of Cambodia’s Kun L’bokator was supposed to be unveiled in November this year.

“The Unesco committee informed us of their decision to suspend the recognition of Kun L’bokator and they said that it was because there have been so many applications from other countries,” Mr Chamroeun said. “Unesco wants to focus on the countries that have never gotten any recognition in the World’s Heritage List.”
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50502049/b ... g-delayed/
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Re: L 'Bokator - Angkorian martial art. Worth preserving ?

Post by Jamie_Lambo »

Mekong.sushi.fighter wrote: Wed Apr 25, 2018 3:06 am Does anyone know if Bokator history is legit? I mean I've seen their tournaments and it looked it's 50% dancing and 50% fighting. They also claimed it orginated out of the battlefield, yet, I highly doubt the angkorian warriors fought like that during those time.
Bokator is a Martial Art, like Fung Fu etc. a lot of the fighting you see are just demonstrations showing off the Martial Arts, like watching the Shaolin Monks performing their Kung Fu
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Re: L 'Bokator - Angkorian martial art. Worth preserving ?

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Surviving Bokator - the movie
Image
15 November 2018
Bokator is an ancient Cambodian martial art that flourished during the golden age of Angkor, and almost disappeared under the Khmer Rouge. Canadian filmmakers Mark Bochsler and Sandra Leuba met Khmer Rouge survivor and Bokator grandmaster, Sean Kim San, while visiting Cambodia in the spring of 2010. After hearing of his dream to revive bokator, their film on the fighter and his sport premiered in 2017 and is being screened at film festivals in Cambodia, Canada and the United States.
The film’s team dropped by the Voice of America (VOA) in Washington to talk with VOA Khmer’s Chetra Chap about the making of “Surviving Bokator” and the place of bokator in Cambodian culture and today’s Cambodia.
(VIDEO): https://www.voacambodia.com/a/documenta ... 58715.html

2 minute trailer here:

video-and-entertainment/cinema-survivin ... 24627.html

More on the movie:
post230748.html?hilit=bokator#p230748
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Re: L 'Bokator - Angkorian martial art. Worth preserving ?

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Image
December 12, 2018
The Kun Bokator National Championship 2018 wrapped up earlier this week at the Sports Hall of the Royal University of Phnom Penh.

The Cambodia Kun Bokator Federation launched the three-day 2018 edition on Saturday and was presided over by Keo Remy, senior advisor to the federation.

He said that regardless of winning or losing medals, athletes should not be discouraged. “Use these experiences to train more to succeed,” he said.
He also stressed that athletes should use the techniques of the national martial art and to strictly respect the rules of ethics, principles of justice and fairness.

The national championships featured 153 athletes from 18 clubs nationwide.
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50558436/b ... s-wrap-up/
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Re: L 'Bokator - Angkorian martial art. Worth preserving ?

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September 26, 2019
Bokator federation target SEA Games
The Cambodian Bokator Federation has been ramping up preparations ahead of the SEA Games where its athletes will compete in the Arnis martial arts competition against fellow martial artists from around Asean.

The impending Manila SEA Games will see the Philippines’ host an Eskrima, Kali, and Arnis competition – a sport which has many similarities to Cambodia’s national martial art of Bokator.

Arnis, also known as Kali and Eskrima, is a martial art that originated in the Philippines and was a demonstration sport when the Philippines hosted the SEA Games in 2005.

The kingdom was represented at August’s Philippine Arnis Goodwill Games and Pre-SEA Games Arnis Tournament, as well as the 2019 Chungju World Martial Arts Masterships in the republic of South Korea.

Federation coaches speaking at yesterday’s press conference to celebrate their success say that the standard of Cambodian Bokator athletes has improved since 2018 and the similarities with Arnis bode well for December.

The Philippines will host the SEA Games between November 30 to December 11.

Like Bokator, there have been campaigns for Arnis to be nominated in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists.

The resurgence of Bokator in recent years bodes well for the kingdom and is largely thanks to the work of the NOCC and San Kim Sean, renowned as the father of modern Bokator and credited with reviving the art. Cambodia has long pursued the fighting styles’ inclusion on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list.
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50646423/b ... sea-games/
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Re: L 'Bokator - Angkorian martial art. Worth preserving ?

Post by CEOCambodiaNews »

A Young Female Athlete Champions Bokator
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Athlete Nup Dalin during her Bokator training. Photo credit: Thmey Thmey
Phoung Vantha 01/01/2020 7:22 PM

Young athlete Nup Dalin not only excels in Bokator, but she has turned into an advocate of this Khmer martial art, encouraging fellow students in her 12th grade class to join her and practice. She has urged them to ask their parents permission to learn this combat technique that may go back 1,000 years in Cambodia and features in wall sculptures at Angkor.

The 18-year-old woman, who has been practicing Bokator for about a year, won a silver medal in the Bokator martial arts category in the 2019 national competition.

From the start, she said, she has had the support of her family, friends and neighbors to practice Bokator. "Women should do what they love," she said.

For Dalin, practicing Bokator is far more than getting involved in a sport: What is at stake is preserving and developing a heritage passed on by the country’s Khmer ancestors, she said. This is why her goal is to become a Bokator coach.

Moreover, Dalin intends to show in Cambodia and abroad that women can learn martial arts as men do, and that this old saying about women who practice martial arts not finding men to love them is a thing of the past, she said.
Dalin intends to keep on training, hoping to become a national champion and represent Cambodia on the international stage.

https://cambodianess.com/article/a-youn ... ns-bokator
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Re: L 'Bokator - Angkorian martial art. Worth preserving ?

Post by pczz »

Mr Curious wrote: Wed Apr 19, 2017 4:18 am looks like a tourist dance. I see no style in this. Pitiful really. But it's one 2 minute clip. One could just as easily observe two 5 yr olds in their first scuffle and affix a name to it and call it a martial art.
Sounds like WWE wrestling then :stir: people dont care if its violenet mayhem or a tourist dance . the importnat things are that it is entertaining and has a cultural element. Oh, doesnt apply to WWE then :beer3:
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Re: L 'Bokator - Angkorian martial art. Worth preserving ?

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CEOCambodiaNews wrote: Thu Nov 15, 2018 7:11 pm Surviving Bokator - the movie
Image
15 November 2018
Bokator is an ancient Cambodian martial art that flourished during the golden age of Angkor, and almost disappeared under the Khmer Rouge. Canadian filmmakers Mark Bochsler and Sandra Leuba met Khmer Rouge survivor and Bokator grandmaster, Sean Kim San, while visiting Cambodia in the spring of 2010. After hearing of his dream to revive bokator, their film on the fighter and his sport premiered in 2017 and is being screened at film festivals in Cambodia, Canada and the United States.
The film’s team dropped by the Voice of America (VOA) in Washington to talk with VOA Khmer’s Chetra Chap about the making of “Surviving Bokator” and the place of bokator in Cambodian culture and today’s Cambodia.
(VIDEO): https://www.voacambodia.com/a/documenta ... 58715.html

2 minute trailer here:

video-and-entertainment/cinema-survivin ... 24627.html

More on the movie:
post230748.html?hilit=bokator#p230748
May 5, 2020
Online availability of Surviving Bokator extended to May 18
Jose Rodriguez T. Senase / Khmer Times Share
The money raised from the documentary will go to the Bokator school and masters in Cambodia.

The online availability of the documentary Surviving Bokator has been extended for almost three more weeks.

Initially, the widely-acclaimed documentary about Cambodian martial arts was made available online to American viewers until April 30.

In an interview, Canadian film director Mark Bochsler said they extended it to raise more funds for Bokator in Cambodia. Bochsler and his wife Sandra Leuba funded, produced and directed the filming of the documentary

“We were supposed to do a spring theatrical campaign in the United States/Canada but had to cancel due to Covid-19. We were pleased to receive multiple requests to make it available online during this period, especially during Khmer New Year season, as families were forced to remain isolated at home,” he disclosed.

“But since it has evolved to become more of a fundraiser, we decided to give it extra time,” he stressed.

According to him, Bokator leaders are struggling in Cambodia because of the Coronavirus pandemic.

“Small businesses around the world are struggling to survive without income during the pandemic, and in developing countries, the situation can be worse. In Cambodia, Bokator leaders have lost their students during the Coronavirus and so, those with rent to pay for their space are at risk of losing their clubs,” he noted.

“We came to know their struggle firsthand during our filming, and so upon realizing their situation during these times, we reached out to offer help,” he added.

Asked why they limit it to the US for now, Bochsler explained they want to make it available online in a country after it has been extensively screened or shown in that place.
Full article: https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50720037/o ... to-may-18/
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Re: L 'Bokator - Angkorian martial art. Worth preserving ?

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An Ancient Martial Art, Transformed by Time, War, Seeks Return to Prominence
13 min read
Ouch Sony and Danielle Keeton-Olsen
| Tue Jan 12, 2021 12:54 pm
Image
L’bokator master Ke Som On, 80, at his house in Kampong Chhnang province’s Rolea Ba’ier district. (Danielle Keeton-Olsen/VOD)

ROLEA BA’IER DISTRICT, Kampong Chhnang — After surviving the Khmer Rouge regime by literally burying the tools of his trade underground, Om Yom, one among a few remaining old masters of the Cambodian martial art l’bokator, spends his time teaching his skills to the younger generation, dreaming to develop the sport to the level of other countries’ martial arts.

L’bokator — also written as bokator — is the oldest martial art that’s still practiced in Cambodia, and is an important part of the past and present of Kampong Chhnang province, which is known not just for artwork like pottery but for its strong military tradition.

The ancient martial art combines techniques like throwing elbows, knees and punches as well as weaponry. This kind of martial art was used for combat in past wars, in addition to being a source of entertainment and a spiritual practice.

Despite its militaristic roots, the presence of l’bokator in Cambodia dwindled as the country weathered periods of war and social upheaval. Under the Khmer Rouge regime, where artists and athletes were targeted and killed because they were considered part of the country’s urban elite, l’bokator almost completely disappeared.

Under Yom’s instruction, students demonstrate their skills learned at a l’bokator club in Kampong Chhnang’s provincial capital, chanting and calling at the group leader’s command. In an exhibitional sparring match, a teenage girl takes on two male peers, emulating the moves that masters would have used in fatal fights in the past. Starting with combat poles, the girl disarms her peers by sideswiping with her pole, dodging and making fast grabs, and when the boys finally take her pole, they switch to barehanded jabs and high kicks.

Yom is one of a small number of people who are fighting to preserve l’bokator traditions after surviving the genocidal regime. Through his and other practitioners’ passion, the martial art is slowly regaining its popularity — with some of its ritualistic and violent traditions transformed as they are passed onto younger generations.

Originally from Kampong Chhnang province, Yom, 67, has spent the past 10 years sharing l’bokator to young fighters, with the hope that the martial art will be recognized and listed as intangible heritage by Unesco, a long-sought recognition of the sport’s foundational role in Southeast Asian martial arts.
https://vodenglish.news/an-ancient-mart ... rominence/
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