Cambodia has increasingly become involved in sports over the last 30 years. Football is popular as are martial arts in particular. Sepak takraw, which looks like volleyball, is also a very popular sport in Cambodia. The martial arts of Bokator, pradal serey (Khmer kickboxing) and Khmer traditional wrestling are all practiced in the country. The ancient sport of Bokator Bokator/boxkator, or more formally, Labok Katao (which means wielding a wooden stick to fight lions), is an ancient Khmer martial art that is based on animal forms. It has ground fighting, close combat techniques and weaponry. Unlike kickboxing, which is a sport fighting art, boxkator was a soldier's art, designed to be used on the battlefield. It can be considered a complete martial art, using strikes, throws, drags, trapping, locking, and some elements of ground fighting. Every single part of the body can be used as a weapon. When fighting, bokator practitioners still wear the uniforms of ancient Khmer armies. A kroma (scarf) is folded around their waist and blue and red silk cords called sangvar day, are tied around the combatants head and biceps. In the past, it is said that the cords were enchanted to increase strength, although now they are just ceremonial. The kroma shows the fighter's level of expertise. A series of grades, each taking at least five months to complete training seven days a week and two hours a day, are represented by different colors. The first grade is white, followed by green, blue, red, brown, and then black which has 10 degrees. After completing their initial training, fighters wear a black kroma (scarf) for at least another ten years. To attain the gold kroma, you must be a true master and must have done something great for bokator. And to become a true master, it will definitely take some time as just in the unarmed portion of the art; there are between 8,000 and 10,000 different techniques; only 1,000 of which you have to learn to attain the black kroma. The art contains 341 different styles, some of which are the duck, crab, horse, bird, dragon, eagle, crane, wind, fire, water, earth (or stone), king monkey, lion, elephant, apsara (traditional Hindu sacred nymph), and crocodile. Ancient Khmer armies. In the past, it is said that the cords were enchanted to increase strength, although now they are just ceremonial. Because of its visually similar style, bokator