NAKHON RATCHASIMA, Thailand (AP): Cheak Bun Hong has chosen his sport wisely. Despite only one year’s experience in the martial art of sanshou wushu, the Cambodian got as far as the quarterfinals at the Southeast Asian Games.

“I love this sport,” Hong said late Friday after losing 2-0 to Senduk Youne Victorio from Indonesia. “It is lucky I like it, because I didn’t have a choice. If I wanted to come to the SEA Games, it was my only chance.”

This year’s event has seven Asian martial arts, and only true aficionados could possibly claim knowledge of all. What is kempo? And how does it differ to pencak silat? Who might win gold at wushu?

From martial arts imported from northern Asia to homegrown techniques, athletes here are competing for 106 gold medals. The imported sports begin with wushu, an exhibition and full-contact sport derived from Chinese martial arts, with film star Jet Li its most famous practitioner.

Wushu is subdivided into taolu - which uses weapons - and sanshou, which does not. Taolu is similar to gymnastics, and competitors are known to spin up to 720 degrees in the air on a jump. Sanshou is more like close-contact boxing, often ending in bear hugs with athletes trying to kick and flip each other.

Taekwondo, from Korea, is a better known art and has Olympic pedigree. It is marked by powerful punches and complicated kicks that move in fast to do the most damage.

Judo, too, is a recognized sport among global audiences. It does not involves weapons, strikes or thrusts. Instead, the object is to throw an opponent to ground, subdue him with a grappling maneuver, or force submission by joint locking the elbow or by applying a choke-hold.

Karate-do, from Japan, includes the grappling of wushu and the strikes of taekwondo, with or without weapons.

Muay thai, literally “Thai boxing,” is the national sport of Thailand, and began with Siamese soldiers as far back as 2000 years ago. Unlike other Asian forms of kickboxing, the Thai version places a strong emphasis on kicking, and almost every part of the body can be used to attack an opponent, except for head-butting.

Pencak silat, is a combination of more than 800 schools of fighting throughout Indonesia. Every region in the archipelago has passed down its own version of the sport, with or without weapons.

And kempo - a demonstration sport here - is also a kicking and punching sport, but in full protective gear.

Despite his defeat, Hong’s spirits were still high.

“You can’t make money as an athlete in Cambodia,” Hong said. “I’m going to try to find work playing my clarinet.” (*http://www.thejakartapost.com*)