Status: 08.09.2023, 12:00 p.m.
By: Franziska Seliger
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Full of anticipation for the Massage World Championships in Penzberg: The team of responsible organizers with ESV chairman Michael Kügler (center). Together they present the trophies and medals for the winners. © Blessed
A very special World Championship will be held in Penzberg from this Friday (8 September). At the Massage World Championships, masseurs and physiotherapists from a wide variety of countries will compete against each other in the Stadthalle for three days.
Penzberg – How fluent are the movements that the treating therapist performs with his patient on the couch? How meticulously does he work? And how well does he take into account the individual anatomy of the patient during treatment? These are three of the criteria that the judges will judge at the three-day Massage World Championships in Penzberg, explains Porntip Chueaka, one of the co-organizers of the event. One of the main people responsible is Bunyanut Weg, who runs a practice for various Far Eastern massage techniques in Penzberg.
Actually, Chueaka explains, the World Cup was supposed to take place in Switzerland. But that didn't work out, and because Weg had many contacts in Penzberg, the former mining town was finally chosen as the venue.
Already on Wednesday the first "athletes" arrived here. According to Chueaka, a total of around 60 participants from 23 different countries were registered; masseurs, physiotherapists and osteopaths, among others. They come from Germany, Italy, Bosnia, Serbia, Holland, Austria and Switzerland.
Competitions in different massage styles
Starting today, Friday, they will all set up their massage tables in the Stadthalle and then compete against each other in different massage styles. Categories are, for example, "Thai Massage", "Sport Massage" as well as "Western Freestyle" or "Asian Freestyle Massage". There is also the "wellness" category, Chueaka enumerates. The World Championships in Penzberg are supported by the "World Massage Federation" from Greece. The main sponsor is ESV Penzberg. A sports club that supports a massage World Cup? Why not? says ESV chairman Michael Kügler. After all, there are many football players in the club who need a massage on a regular basis. So it's good to be able to rely on the fact that the treating therapists are technically good. According to Chueaka, this is exactly the goal behind the event: it is intended to help establish high quality standards in massage and the like and to motivate therapists to become better and better practitioners.
A competition session at the World Championships will last 30 minutes, explains Chueaka. Among other things, the judges would evaluate how hygienically clean the therapist works. The satisfaction of the "patients" is also included in the evaluation.
Spectators welcome
Anyone who is interested in the event is welcome to come and watch, she says. The World Cup is public. However, it is not possible to lie on the couch and have your own tension on your neck and shoulders kneaded away. At the World Cup, there would only be extras who played the patients.
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As Chueaka explains, a first massage World Championships were held on a small scale in Penzberg last year – as a test for the actual World Championships this year, so to speak. The big dream of those responsible is that massage is recognized as an Olympic discipline. The winners will be awarded trophies and medals at the World Massage Championships.
Thai dances are shown
The program: The Massage World Championship will take place from today until Sunday, September 10, daily from 10 a.m. to 17 p.m. It will open this Friday (8 September) at 9.30 a.m. Thai dances are also presented. The first competition will take place at 11.15 a.m. On Sunday (September 10), the final is scheduled for 11 a.m.