Muay at the 27th SEA Games must be organised by the Federation of Amateur Muaythai of Asia (Fama), a Thai official said yesterday.
Muay (Muay Thai) will be a sport at the biennial Games in December in Myanmar, which has reportedly asked the Asian Muay Federation (AMF) to organise the muay tournament.
But Sakchaye Tapsuwan, president of the Amateur Muaythai Association of Thailand (Amat), said that it would not be right for the tournament to be run by the AMF because it is not recognised by any international sporting federations.
The tournament must be supervised by the Fama, according to Sakchaye, who is also president of the International Federation of Muaythai Amateur (Ifma).
"I have sent a letter to Myanmar asking for its clarification," he said.
Sakchaye's comment came after AMF president Santipap Intarapat said that his organisation had been approached by hosts Myanmar to organise the event, which offers 14 gold medals in the men's and women's categories.
A few years ago, Sakchaye and Santipap fought each other in a legal struggle, won by Sakchaye, for control of domestic amateur Muay Thai.
In 2010, a court ruled in favour of Sakchye's organisation, which is now the lawful governing body of the sport in Thailand.
With the ruling, Santipap's organisation was disbanded. He then set up the AMF, which ran the muay event at the 2009 SEA Games in Laos.
SEA Games council member Charoen Wattanasin said that to meet international standards, each sport at the biennial event should be run by a legitimate international body of that sport.
But he also said the hosts have the right to ask any organisation to stage an event.