Another MTT in the pipeline...

Recently I went into SgForum the martial art section and started to write about the Martial Art Tanding Tournament held at Masjid Al-Mukminin. Managed to get one forummer to respond and he is very interested to support the concept.

The following are the questions he asked me over the email and the answer I gave to him...

1. Is it a full-contact tournament?

Well, if you consider full impact hits from punches, kicks and kneeing which should land only on the body protector (because of this elbowing is not possible unless you can hit the legal areas) and all other hits at other areas must be performed in order to takedown the opponent but not to break their bones and cause deliberate injuries (e.g. kicking straight at the knee and above up to the groin area, kicking directly on the sheen to break it, definitely not allowed)…then is that considered full contact to you?

2. No head strikes allowed at all, yes?

Yes, no head strikes at all intentionally or unintentionally (points will be deducted). The head area is from the small exposed area around the neck upwards; hence directly hitting the expose portion near the neck is also considered hitting on the head as well…

3. Silat style body protector must be worn, but no other protective gear is necessary. (Is a groin guard necessary?)

We provide the silat style body protector only. Groin guard is compulsory but of course this is a personal item, meaning we are not providing it. As for other guards like arm, sheen, gloves can be worn but not of the hard body armour type. It must be only the padded kind. The silat body protector (non-armoured type) nowadays is much more flexible and do not restrict much of the body movements especially around the waist area; hence we deem it as the best source for now…

4. Are kicks to the legs allowed? Only the head and groin are off-limits, right?

As I have mentioned above, it is allowed with the intention to make your opponent fall as such sweeping the opponent off the ground is a version of kicking the legs to achieve takedown points which is the highest point awarded. Takedown (no resistance) gets 3 points while other hit on the body protector gets 1 point each no matter whether coming from punches or kicks…

5. Are throws allowed?

Yes, it is allowed but the moment there is effective resistance from the opponent the referee will stop it and reset the game. Thereafter no point is awarded after the referee signal stop.

6. What about clinching?

No clinching allowed but we can explore the possibility…

7. Can we attack someone whose back is facing us?

The referee will stop the fight when one of the opponent faces the whole body away with the back facing the attacking contender and will advice him/her not to do it… if he/she insisted to do that points will be deducted.

8. Does a ring-out count for anything?

Of course, the moment even any parts of the body touch the line, the game will stop and reset. The one that commits it will be advised and points will be deducted if he/she continues to do it. Any maneuvers outside the ring will not get any points at all.

9. Are there any other rules we should be aware of?

Yes, there are several other rules, e.g. what is effective resistance which needs a lot of space to explain. How we reset the game. When to start the attack etc…

Therefore I will organize a day where all interested parties to come down, most probably at Cheng San CC (behind Ang Mo Kio MRT station) Ang Mo Kio Street 53. We will sit down and table out all the things that contenders should be aware of in order to compete well in this tournament. We will also explain the rules and regulations to all so that you can understand the reasons why they come into being. We also welcome all feedbacks so that we continuously improve the tournament for more Martial Art practitioner to enjoy...

Stay tuned ... I will be publishing the date of the meeting as soon as I can get confirmation from all my committee members...