A Thai-style kickboxer world champion Alex Gong, 30, was shot to death Friday, August 1 in San Francisco. After his parked car was hit, Gong confronted the driver and was shot to death at point-blank range. Reported Jaxon Van Derbeken and Michael Cabanaturn, Gong who had been working out at the South of Market training gym he runs at 444 Clementina St., was wearing yellow boxing gloves and boxing trunks when he was killed. Late Friday night, police said they had identified the car believed to be the hit-and-run vehicle, a dark green 1995 Jeep Cherokee with license plate 3NAN185, and want to question the registered owner, 33-year-old Kurt Reiner of San Francisco.
Gong, a resident of San Francisco, was born and raised in New England, and lived for a time in Central Asia before returning to the East Coast. He later moved to California and graduated from San Francisco State University with a degree in business. Long interested in judo and tae kwon do, Gong discovered Muay Thai, a form of kickboxing and the national sport of Thailand. He had a natural affinity for the sport and racked up an impressive array of championships. Gong worked hard as a businessman who introduced Muay Thai to California when in 1996 he opened a San Francisco branch of Fairtex Combat Sports Camp -- founded in Bangkok in 1976. It wasn't long before the firm employed 20 instructors and included more than 600 students. It is, according to the company's Web site, the nation's top Muay Thai training facility and the only one recognized by the World Muay Thai Council, which is under the authority of the Thai government. (Source: San Francisco Chronicle).