sharp practice
September 1, 2004 12:13 PM   Subscribe

Bando is the brutal fighting style of Burma. Trouble is, its Grandmaster may be a fantasist and a fraud.
posted by the cuban (4 comments total)
 
Can they use this unstoppable fighting technique to free Aung San Suu Kyi? Because I'd pay to see that movie.
posted by Pretty_Generic at 4:40 PM on September 1, 2004


I've been to a seminar with Dr. Gyi and have fought in the ring against students of his students, so I can verify that he is a skilled martial artist. Given what I observed of his self-aggrandizing nature, however, I wasn't surprised to hear that his stories of being in every war since WWII were exaggerated or fabricated.

I'm not sure that this story is all that interesting to those outside the martial arts community. If you have any links analyzing the general phenomenon of fraudulent veteran wannabes, I'd be interested to see them. I've never really understood the mindset of those who spend so much time and energy trying to create a history for themselves that never happened.

I was disappointed to see that the links to the Burmese fight videos on the Bando site were all broken. I've only seen and experienced Bando fighting in the more tame amateur version praciced in the states. (No headbutts or elbows allowed.) If you know of working links to those videos, I'd happily check them out.
posted by tdismukes at 1:04 PM on September 2, 2004


I'm not sure that this story is all that interesting to those outside the martial arts community

Enough people flooded the video clip server to shut it down(!)
posted by the cuban at 1:22 AM on September 3, 2004


The video clips are back up now.
posted by the cuban at 3:38 AM on September 3, 2004


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