NANNING, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The sun beamed in through the gym window, lighting up the sweaty boxers who are busy practicing new moves and skills. The Muay Thai gym opened by Ye Xiaofei in south China's city of Nanning always greets visitors with the sound of shouts and the smell of sweat.

The 36-year-old Ye, medium height and muscled, is no doubt the commander and center of the tiny gym.

Born and raised in the wide cast mountains in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Ye struggled to make a living until Muay Thai came and changed his life.

Locals in Ye's hometown Qibainong once deemed the area as a place "cursed by devils". Lacking water and fertile soil, the township was identified as one of the most inhospitable places on earth by UN officials in the 1990s.

"I had been long trapped by the feeling of powerlessness brought by poverty," said Ye who then left home at the age of 15 to the city of Urumqi in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to earn a living.

During his stay in Urumqi, Ye was enchanted by combat sports and found himself a job at a taekwondo gym. "I practiced taekwondo during the day and worked at night. I only slept about four hours a day, yet I was quite happy," he said.

Later, Ye learned martial arts, boxing, and Sanda. "While I was studying Sanda, I learned that the rules of Muay Thai were the most open by far. Known as 'Babi Boxing', Muay Thai allows participants to attack with fists, legs, elbows, and knees. It is rather practical for actual combat, so I totally fell in love with muay Thai," said the Muay Thai enthusiast.

In 2008, Ye Xiaofei went to Guangzhou to study Muay Thai and headed for Thailand to further his study three years later. "I can't speak English or Thai, but I know that if I want to reach new heights, Thailand is a must-go."

"If the coach asked me to kick 300 times in sandbags, I would kick more than 400 times. If we were asked to run 10 kilometers, I would finish when others were halfway," said Ye who trained for up to seven hours every day during his stay in Thailand.

Ye then kept refining his skills through constant competition and training and won several awards in Muay Thai matches which greatly improved his life.

"Muay Thai has not only improved my living conditions but also made me confident. I really want to do what I can to promote the sport," said Ye, who then came back to Guangxi and opened two Muay Thai gyms in the city of Nanning and Yulin.

Ye told Xinhua that it has been 10 years since he started promoting Thai boxing in China and has taught it to thousands of people.

"I think that in the past few years, especially the past four to five years, I have witnessed the boom of Thai boxing in China. Because more and more Chinese have gone to Thailand to study Thai boxing. And many of China's boxing clubs now have Thai instructors," said Ye, adding that he believes the ever closer cooperation and interchange on Muay Thai between China and Thailand are brought by the friendly relationship between the two countries.

When Ye started to promote Thai boxing 10 years ago, most of the participants were adults. And today, more and more teenagers are interested in the sport.

"If I were young, I would still want to compete. However, I now put more energy to pass on my experiences to my students, to help them get better results, and hopefully to show that China's combat sports have a very promising future," said Ye. Enditem

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