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Concept
Pradal serey
Summary
Pradal Serey (ប្រដាល់សេរី prɑɗal seːrəj) or Kun Khmer (គុនខ្មែរ kun khmae) is a combat sport that originated in Cambodia. The official Khmer name of the sport is Kbach Kun Pradal Khmer (ក្បាច់គុនប្រដាល់ខ្មែរ khɓac kun prɑɗal khmae). In Khmer, pradal means fighting or boxing and serey means free. Thus, pradal serey may be translated as "free fighting" or "free boxing". The sport consists of stand up striking and clinch fighting where the objective is to knock an opponent out, force a technical knockout, or win a match by points.
Pradal Serey is most well known for its kicking technique, which generates power from hip rotation rather than snapping the leg. Pradal Serey consists of four types of strikes: punches, kicks, elbows and knee strikes. The clinch is used to wear down the opponent. In the clinch, opponents battle for dominant position for short range strikes by way of elbows and knees. Cambodian fighters tend to utilize more elbow strikes than that of other martial arts in the region. In pradal serey, more victories come by way of an elbow technique than any other strikes.
The story of pradal serey starts with the Khmer Empire. The Khmer Empire was founded in 802 A.D. at a time when many modern Southeast Asian countries didn't exist yet. Martial arts were used by the military of the Khmer Empire. Pradal Serey has its root from the hand-to-hand combat use by the military of the Khmer Empire. In the Angkor era, both armed and unarmed martial arts were practiced by the Khmers. Evidence shows that a style resembling pradal serey existed in the 9th century, which may be one of the reasons why the Khmer Empire was such a military powerhouse in Southeast Asia. The Khmer Empire used an early form of pradal serey along with various weapons and war elephants to wage war against their main enemy, the principalities of Champa.
At this time, the Khmer Empire dominated and controlled most of what is now Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and parts of Vietnam. As a result, Cambodia has influenced much of Thai and Lao culture.
Official source
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