Evaluation of Selected Motor Fitness Profiles: A Comparative Study of Fencing and Thang-Ta Players

Abstract

To achieve the optimum level of performance in combative sports, motor fitness plays a vital role. The present study aimed to compare between Fencing and Thang-Ta players of Manipur on selected motor fitness component. A total of 60 male players, 30 from each group, age ranging from 15 to 20 years, were selected purposively for this study. The selected variables included flexibility, leg explosive strength, eye-hand coordination, and hand reaction time. Collected data was examined normality by using “Shapiro-Wilk” test. As the flexibility, leg explosive strength and hand reaction time violated the normality assumption, the “Mann-Whitney U” test was used to compare between two group on said variables. While eye-hand coordination was found normally distributed, an independent t-test was employed. It was found that there is no significant difference between two group in flexibility (U= 320, p = 0.051), and eye-hand coordination (t = -1.89, p = 0.064). However, a significant difference is found in leg explosive strength (U = 174, p = < 0.001) and hand reaction time (U = 248, p = 0.003), where Thang-Ta players demonstrated higher level of leg explosive strength than Fencing players and Fencing players were found with better in hand reaction time. These finding revealed that both the sports required almost same levels of flexibility and eye hand coordination. They develop specific motor fitness characteristics according to the demands of respective sports.