Get your fight on!
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This week three different schools take three different paths to studying a martial art. From the almost spiritual, largely defensive practice of Wushu to the ferocity of the mixed martial arts deployed at Colombo’s fight nights, we take a look at how to get your fight on. Here’s what you need to know.
Sri Lanka National Wushu Academy
3/7 A, Jayanthi Mawatha, Jayanthipura, Sri Jayawardanapura, Battaramulla Tel: 0772225711
Prasanna Jayaweera has been teaching Chinese Martial Arts since 1975 and was the first to introduce the Wushu style of martial arts to Sri Lanka. He tells us Wushu is more than just a combat form – it is a deep science. He traces its roots to ancient China where monks forced to flee their temples settled in the forests. There they created a new form inspired by the animals around them. Meant only for defence, enemies were incapacitated rather than killed outright by pinpointing the pressure points of the body. “It is not a combat form at all, but rather a form of improving your qualities as a human being. The ultimate purpose lies in empowerment of the self,” says Prasanna.
Prasanna shows the moves
Prasanna who has been teaching Wushu for the past 38 years holds a degree from the Hanchu City University where he was a scholarship student. He is also the founder president of the National Wushu Federation and Founder of the Schools Wushu Foundation. He estimates that he teaches over 1500 students, many of whom began at the ideal age of 6. However, Wushu has no age limit – some of his students are as old as 60 or 70 and are learning adaptive forms of the martial art. While daily training is recommended, thrice a week will do in a pinch.
A fee of Rs.1500 (includes enrolment and identity cards) is levied for the first month, after which students are charged Rs.1000 a month. Find him online at www.srilankawushu.com
Mixed Martial Arts, Sri Lanka
Kalalaya, Bauddhaloka Mawatha Colombo 7. Tel: 071 527 0381
Practitioners of Thai boxing are said to practise the art of eight limbs or eight weapons – attacking in a deadly flurry of fists, elbows, knees and feet. “It’s a striking art,” says Dr. Haren Jayasinghe, who founded this MMA centre in 2005. When he started out, Haren was doing all the teaching himself, but has since recruited coaches Duncan Chalmers, Erich Hummel, Albert Kim and Bob McDevitt to help train young fighters in a combination of styles including muay Thai striking, freestyle grappling and Brazilian jujitsu ground fighting.
“A lot of fights, even street fights, end up on the ground,” says Haren explaining that fighters must be taught to cope with that eventuality. Particularly in jujitsu there’s a lot of fighting on the ground and the students are taught how to do locks, chokes and leg and arm locks. “It’s a very practical style,” he says. It’s also an international sport, one that can be profitable for good fighters – a successful athlete can earn several lakhs of rupees. Though the sport is very much in its infancy in Sri Lanka, Haren currently has fighters stepping into the ring in America and India and says they’re looking forward to their Colombo Fight Nights being broadcast on local television beginning this March.
Classes are priced at Rs.1000 a month. Find MMA, Sri Lanka online at https://www.facebook.com/colombofightnight.cfn.mma?fref=ts
Health and Budo Centre, Kurunegala
100, Third Floor, Colombo Road, Kurunegala. Tel: 0718689272
Like MMA, the Health and Budo Centre offer a mix of martial arts, but in their case it’s karate and kick boxing with an emphasis on the latter. Four trainers work at the gym that was established in 2000. “Mixed Martial Arts is an amalgamation of all kinds of martial arts with a set of new rules, while karate and kickboxing are the more traditional fighting methods,” explains Priyantha Rajapakshe.
A full contact sport, a session of kickboxing offers an exhilarating experience. “There is no gripping allowed in kickboxing and thus you can ‘see a clear fight,’” he says, adding that opponents typically back down after being knocked out. An intense form of fighting, this isn’t quite your average form of self-defence, says Priyantha. Practitioners must master not only the physical aspect of the sport but train their minds as well, and as a coach he believes it can help individuals cope with stress and even emotional strain like grief.
Priyantha has been training under 4 time K-1World Grand Prix Kickboxing Champion ‘Shihan Semmy Schilt’ and is advised also by sports coach Shihan Dave Jonkers. Having trained in the Netherlands, he decided to bring refined kickboxing to Sri Lanka in 2005. Classes are usually split into two; with one group practising the art for leisure and exercise while the other treats it as a competitive sport. Notably, women are a part of the group.
The cost a month is Rs. 2000. Find them online at: http://www.healthandbudo.com
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