Knees
“Tee Khao” (Knee-Kick)
The knee kick can be done by raising the knee to attack which may a bit harder for beginners because this requires maintaining proper balance when attacking. The main characteristic of using knee-kick is you generally have to be at close-quarters with your opponent, but you sometimes can use a knee kick to attack an opponent while you are at long range, such as flying knee kick.
Muay Thai Master Saekson – 4 DVD Set
The Straight Knee-kick (Khao Trong)
To execute the straight knee, you simply grab the opponent’s neck with two hands and raise the knee straight and upward to attack the target. However, trying to grab your opponent’s neck is not easy if you fight an experienced Thai boxer. Also, you must always be careful of your opponents’ elbow attacks. Straight knees generally target the body, chest and abdomen.
The Diagonal Knee-kick (Khao Chiang)
To execute the diagonal knee, try to grab opponent’s neck with two hands, but raising the knee to attack from a different angle, diagonally. The diagonal knee, generally intends to target the thighs, ribs, and side of the body.
The Horizontal Knee-kick (Khao Chiang)
The horizontal knee is slighly different from both the knee techniques I mentioned above, as we will grab the opponent’s neck with only one hand while the other hand remains in the guard position. Swing the knee horizontally, moving parallel to the ground to attack the target. Twisting the hip in the direction of the knee serves to increase the velocity and power of the strike
The Knee-slap (Khao Tob)
The knee-slap is one of the weapons that is most-used in Muay Thai competition. It may not be one of the most powerful and dangerous weapons to knock out an opponent, but it is good to be used to collect points. The target of the knee-slap are generally the trunk and ribs. To execute a knee-slap, grab the opponent’s neck tightly with both hands, raising the knee to attack be using the inner part of the knee joint to slap on the target.
The Step-up Knee-kick (Khao Yieb)
This technique is quite difficult to do as it requires more skill and perfect timing. To do this kind of knee kick, you have to use the lead leg to step on the opponent’s thigh and riase your body up then thrust the knee of the opposite leg to attack the target, which is mainly the facial area and chin. It’s quite rare to see boxers in competition using this thechnique, but if you have a chance to do this, it may be the most poweeful knee-kick technique among them all.
Muay Thai Master Saekson – 4 DVD Set
Reference:'Basic Attack, Knees'. Retrieved on January 15, 2009 from http://www.muaythailesson.com/basic_attack.html#knee_kick
