The revival of the 'Gyeongin Grand Martial Arts Acting Competition' in 91 years. Ring Championship 05 to be reproduced in Incheon Port
Sep 06, 2024
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This is an important historical document that shows how big the Gyeongin Grand Martial Arts Acting Competition held at Incheon's Aekwan Theater, the oldest 130-year-old in Korea, was and that different martial arts competed.
In particular, the boxing versus judo match of the competition is so original that it is considered the beginning of mixed martial arts in modern terms, recording an important moment when Western culture and traditional martial arts converged about 100 years ago.
As a project to recreate this historical event, Ring Championship 05 will be held on Oct. 20 at the Incheon Sangsang Platform. This competition is not just a martial arts competition, but it symbolizes the revival of the Gyeongin Grand Martial Arts Acting Competition in 1933, and presents a modern reinterpretation of the innovative competition between boxing and judo on one stage at the time.
This competition is sponsored by Incheon Metropolitan City and the Incheon Tourism Organization, and will be held at Sangsang Platform, a complex cultural facility. Sangsang Platform will celebrate the Ring Championship 05 as its first sporting event since it remodeled an old grain warehouse built at Incheon Port and opened in 2024. Through this competition, efforts are made to re-examine the 141-year history of the Incheon Port and to develop the cultural heritage of the past into a local tourism resource.
In particular, the Gyeongin Grand Martial Arts Competition is an official record and significant event 40 years ahead of the 1976 mixed martial arts fight between boxing champion Muhammad Ali and Japanese wrestling legend Antonio Inoki. The boxing versus judo match held in Incheon in 1933 is meaningful in shedding light on modern mixed martial arts for 100 years and reinterpreting their values.
The Ring Championship 05 will be the semifinals of the bantamweight tournament, with South Korea's Kim Eun-sung, Shin Yu-min, Japan's Takeshi Kunito, and Kazakhstan's Bolett Zamanbekov. The fighters, who have reached the semifinals through intense qualifying and quarterfinals since the beginning of this year, will face off in a heated battle for the final championship. The semifinal match and other matches will be announced later.
This competition, which is held against the backdrop of Incheon's historical heritage, is expected to become a new tourism content through the convergence of local tourism and sports culture, and is attracting great attention as a cultural festival connecting the past and the present.
Meanwhile, the Ring Championship will co-host a national competition with Fairtex Fight at Lumbini Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand on the 14th.
indyk@sportschosun.com
