The beautiful island of Tahiti is one of IFMA’s newest members, but they have already sent athletes to the Indoor Asian Martial Arts Games and now a team is competing at the World Championships in Mexico. 

The Polynesian Federation of Thai Boxing and Associated Disciplines (FPBTDA) has been working hard to promote the growth of muaythai in recent years. Composing a number of islands, the most well known is the capital island of Tahiti.

Athlete Anna Kulabdam competed in Turkmenistan last year and was very proud to carry the Tahitian flag once again at the opening ceremony here in Mexico. The sport is growing she said, with good supports being put in place now by the island federation.

Anna said she started muaythai in 2013, but initially found it difficult to compete as she was the only woman interested in moving on from only training. This is a situation which she would like to change, with the help of the Polynesian Muaythai Federation.

“In five years time I’d like to be coming to IFMA as a trainer, and bringing a team of girls. What I really want is to find the next girl for the IFMA. I’m sure that IFMA is growing more, and I’d like one day to see a Tahitian girl going to the Olympics in muaythai. , ” she said.

“I want to develop the female muaythai in Tahiti, the federation is really into helping us. There is a lot to do,” she said.

One of the aims for the federation is to develop a training area for everyone from around the islands to come together and work on muaythai focus.

Eugene Tinomoe is also representing Tahiti, competing the +91kg male division.

Follow Anna on Instagram as she prepares for the next steps in Tahiti’s muaythai growth with the