Taekwondo is a Korean martial art, characterized by its emphasis on head-height kicks, jumping spinning kicks, and fast kicking techniques. Beginning in 1945, shortly after the end of World War II and the Japanese Occupation, new martial arts schools called 'Kwan' opened in Seoul. These schools were established by Korean martial artists with backgrounds in (mostly) Japanese and Chinese martial arts. At the time, indigenous disciplines (such as Taekkyeon) were all but forgotten, due to years of decline and repression by the Japanese colonial government. The umbrella term traditional Taekwondo typically refers to the martial arts practiced by the kwans during the 1940s and 1950s, though in reality the term "Taekwondo" had not yet been coined at that time, and indeed each Kwan(school) was practicing its own unique fighting style. In 1952, South Korean President Lee Seung-man witnessed a martial arts demonstration by ROK officer Choi Hong-hi and Nam Tae-hi from the 29th Infantry Division. He misrecognized the technique on display as Taekkyeon, and urged martial arts to be introduced to the army under a single system. Beginning in 1955 the leaders of the kwans began discussing in earnest the possibility of creating a unified Korean martial art. Until then, Tang Soo Do was used to name Korean Karate, using the Korean hanja pronunciation of the Japanese kanji (唐手道). The name Tae Soo Do (跆手道) was also used to describe a unified style of Korean martial arts. This name consists of the hanja 跆(tae) "to stomp, trample", 手(su) "hand", and 道(do) "way, discipline". Choi Hong-hi advocated the use of the name Tae Kwon Do, i.e. replacing 手(su) "hand" with 拳(kwon or gwon) "fist", the term also used for "martial arts" in Chinese 'Quán'. The name was also the closest to the pronunciation of Taekkyeon, in accordance with the views of the president. The new name was initially slow to catch on among the leaders of the kwans. During this time Taekwondo was also adopted for use by the South Korean military, which increased its popularity among civilian martial arts schools. In 1959 the Korea Taekwondo Association or KTA (then-Korea Tang Soo Do Association) was established to facilitate the unification of Korean martial arts. General Choi, of the Oh Do Kwan, wanted all the other member kwans of the KTA to adopt his own Chan Hon-style of Taekwondo, as a unified style. This was, however, met with resistance as the other kwans instead wanted a unified style to be created based on inputs from all the kwans, to serve as a way to bring on the heritage and characteristics of all of the styles, not just the style of a single kwan. As a response to this, along with disagreements about teaching Taekwondo in North Korea and unifying the whole Korean Peninsula, Choi broke with the KTA in 1966, in order to establish the International Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF)— a separate governing body devoted to institutionalizing his own style of Taekwondo in Canada. Initially, the South Korean president, having close ties to General Choi, gave General Choi's ITF limited support. However, the South Korean government wished to avoid North Korean influence on the martial art. Conversely, ITF president Choi Hong-hi sought support for his style of Taekwondo from all quarters, including North Korea. In response, in 1972 South Korea withdrew its support for the ITF. The ITF continued to function as an independent federation, then headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Choi continued to develop the ITF-style, notably with the 1983 publication of his Encyclopedia of Taekwondo. After Choi's retirement, the ITF split in 2001 and then again in 2002 to create three separate federations each of which continues to operate today under the same name. In 1972 the KTA and the South Korean government's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism established the Kukkiwon as the new national academy for Taekwondo. Kukkiwon now serves many of the functions previously served by the KTA, in terms of defining a government-sponsored unified style of Taekwondo. In 1973 the KTA and Kukkiwon supported the establishment of the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF, renamed to World Taekwondo in 2017 due to confusion with the initialism) to promote the sportive side of Kukki-Taekwondo. WT competitions employ Kukkiwon-style Taekwondo. For this reason, Kukkiwon-style Taekwondo is often referred to as WT-style Taekwondo, sport-style Taekwondo, or Olympic-style Taekwondo, though in reality the style is defined by the Kukkiwon, not the WT. Since 2000, Taekwondo has been one of only two Asian martial arts (the other being judo) that are included in the Olympic Games. It started as a demonstration event at the 1988 games in Seoul, a year after becoming a medal event at the Pan Am Games, and became an official medal event at the 2000 games in Sydney. In 2010, Taekwondo was accepted as a Commonwealth Games sport.

Kalarippayattu is a traditional holistic Martial Art with strong links to Yoga and Ayurveda. 'Kalari' translates as “place of training”, 'Payattu' as “combat exercises”. Kalaris are also important centers of religious worship. The initial physical training (Meippayattu) consists of animal postures arranged in flowing forms which, like Yoga, develop far more than flexibility and strength. It operates on a psychophysical level which can aid personal awareness and confidence amongst other attributes. The next level of practice involves wooden and metal weapons which again develop the senses as much as key fighting skills. What is also interesting, and again confirms Kalari's holistic ways, is the stages of training combine fighting with healing at almost all levels. The primary aim is the ultimate coordination between mind and body. Another focus of Kalaripayattu is specialization in indigenous medicinal practices. Kalaripayattu masters practiced not only the martial craft, but also medicine (kalari chikitsa) and herbalism, which they used to heal the wounds of soldiers who had been hurt in battle. Kalaripayattu originates in the southwest of India, in today’s state of Kerala and also partly Tamil Nadu. It is often believed to be the oldest martial art in the world, with deep roots in Indian mythology that look back on thousands of years of tradition. There are 3 acknowledged styles of Kalaripayattu – Northern, Southern, and Central – with the names referring to different parts of the Kerala region. The Northern and the Southern styles each have their own mythical gurus – Parashurama and Agastya Muni, respectively – and their own founding myths. For millennia these arts, their military techniques and associated rituals were shrouded in mystique, with only ancient Indian literature to go by. They started becoming less arcane around the 10th-12th century AD when Keralite society became militarized due to fights between kingdoms and dynasties. Military academies, known as Kalari, were created to instruct young people on how to use weapons and then join local troops. After a heydey in the 16th and 17th centuries, the importance of Kalaripayattu and the warriors who practiced it gradually declined due to developments in societal structure and military technique. When the British colonized India in the mid-19th century, they considered the warriors a threat to British authority, and the practice of Kalaripayattu was banned on penalty of death or exile. It wasn’t until the 1920s when a wave of rediscovery of historic traditions swept over India, there was the rise of Kalaripayattu schools, as well as a revival of the spirit of the martial art itself. Kalaripayattu presentations became very popular, as people enthusiastically recalled the heroic past of their country. Nowadays, there are many kalaris in Kerala, with dozens of schools in every town, and quite a few in other parts of India, in big cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, or Bangalore. There are also teachers operating in countries all over the world.

Pangration is an ancient Greek martial art that combined techniques of both boxing and wrestling, as well as additional elements, such as the use of strikes with the lower extremities to create a broad fighting sport similar to today’s mixed martial arts. It was chosen for the regular event in the Ancient Olympic Games. The origins of pangration are to be found in ancient Greek mythological traditions, according to which Heracles and Theseus, are the inventors of the sport since they first used their techniques to confront the Nemea Lion and Minotaur respectively. Pangration was included in the Olympic Games in 648 B.C. and it constituted an integral part of all major and local athletic contests in the Classical and Roman periods, from Italy to Anatolia and from the Black Sea to Egypt. pangration became the most popular sport of antiquity because of the large demands it required from the athletes, the diversity it provided as a spectacle, and the excitement it created at the audience. These characteristics are evident in its ancient name, pangration, which literally means “to dominate totally.” Pangration revived globally after the 2nd World War. Today pangration is developed by the World Pangration Athlima Federation (WPAF), established in 2002, as well as by hundreds of other international, national and local organizations that provide training and encourage the perpetuation of this ancient sport. The Greek Pangration Athlima Federation (GPAF) was officially established in 1996. Its main objective is the promotion, circulation, and organization of pangration in its traditional as well as its modern form. One important feature of modern pangration sport is that the regulations and rules are constituted in a way that the protection of the athletes is obtained in the most sufficient degree. The preservation of many ancient elements in the conduction of modern pangration has a significant social and cultural function and meaning because it keeps alive the connection with the past and the roots of the sport. In that way, the people who are practicing the sport today recognize it as part of their cultural heritage. The methods and techniques of pangration have survived throughout the centuries, from generation to generation and today it constitutes a popular sport providing to all people involved a sense of identity and continuity.

Coreeda is a combination of Aboriginal dance with a unique wrestling game. It is a team sport that calculating the team members' scores by summing them up. The scores of six competitors representing each weight class from each team are added to the team scores. The word “Coreeda” means ‘kangaroo spirit’ in the Ngiyampaa language of Cobar region, NSW, Australia, and is based on a story told by the elders of that region: As a solution to the endemic warfare and reprisal killings that were taking so many lives, an old man named Beereun observed the Red Kangaroos fighting and realized that peace could be found if warriors simply put down their weapons and fought within the strict rules of play; thus the sport of wrestling was created. Centered on the great kangaroo hunts that brought many different tribal groups together for festive gatherings, the young men of the region were made to compete to dissipate their aggressive tendencies and display themselves for potential marriage arrangements. The Coreeda Festivals were occurring until the 1870s when the discovery of copper mines in the region brought European settlers and the destruction of the tribal way of life. The Coreeda Association was founded in 1998 as an attempt to revive the lost forms of traditional wrestling that were practiced in pre-colonial Australia by aboriginal people.