YANGON, Myanmar (AP) – A group of strongly built young men gathers early in the morning in the suburbs of Yangon to work on their fighting skills. Some of them jump on cast-off tires to warm up. Others stretch or punch the air.
All of them pause and make way when a rickshaw comes by, because their gym is the street.
The men are members of Yangon’s White New Blood lethwei fighters club. Most come from rural areas of Myanmar, get fed by their coach and sleep in a nearby Buddhist monastery during their stay in Yangon preparing for fights.
Lethwei fighter-turned-coach Myint Zaw started the traditional fighter’s club 15 years ago, after he retired from the sport.
The club is situated on the road in front of his house in a Yangon neighborhood of improvised tin and wooden structures. Most of the equipment is improvised as well, including weights strapped to a wooden bar. A tree wrapped with old tires serves as a punching bag, though now the gym has a real one as well.