NO HOLDS BARRED

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman spoke with martial artist, catch wrestler, and freestyle wrestler Qin Yunquan.

She is an instructor for women's and children's self-defense at the Kapap Academy Singapore.

While based in Singapore, she is currently in the U.S. to further her training, including in catch wrestling with Raul Ramirez of the Catch Wrestling Alliance in Los Angeles, and at the Certified Catch Wrestler Training Camp, February 7-8, in San Diego, California, with catch wrestling legend Billy Robinson and Jake Shannon of ScientificWrestling.com. She will also be training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and MMA.

We spoke with Qin Yunquan by Skype Tuesday.

Speaking about the participation of herself and her students in submission grappling and MMA tournaments, she said, "Whenever we go into tournaments, local tournaments like grappling tournaments, especially in submission grappling, we go in, not under the premise that we are submission grapplers, but we go in and we publicly tell people, 'We are catch wrestlers.'"

This leaves an impression on those who are not catch wrestlers, especially after they win their fights.

"It strikes fear into the people, because they have heard about catch wrestling, but they don't know enough about it. So it's like fighting an unknown opponent, and you don't know what they're going to do," she said.

"And so when we win these local tournaments, whether it's a standalone catch wrestling or a submission grappling tournament, it raises the profile of catch wrestling, because you go in, publicly telling people that we are catch wrestlers."

While BJJ and MMA are much bigger than catch wrestling in Singapore and all of Southeast Asia, she noted that it is growing there. But she added that there is "not enough credit given to catch in MMA."

We discussed how she and those in her academy got involved with catch wrestling; the origins of the Kapap Academy Singapore, which was started by Teo Yew Chye, and how it was born out of tragedy; her training of women in self-defense; her participation in freestyle wrestling with the Wrestling Federation of Singapore; her own earlier training in Wushu; why wrestling doesn't have "cultural boundaries to it" and "anybody can do it"; and many other topics.

"Stay tuned for the growth of catch wrestling in Southeast Asia, because our school is definitely going to be set to showcase more catch wrestling in all parts of the world," she said. "And stay tuned for more fighters from our gym coming to compete, because we will definitely showcase catch wrestling and what it can do in various martial arts contests."

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Labels: BJJ, catch wrestling, Eddie Goldman, freestyle, grappling, Kapap Academy Singapore, MMA, No Holds Barred, Qin Yunquan, Singapore, submission, Teo Yew Chye