Our Story

Bokhin Ayin was dreamt and created as a joint effort from American wrestlers Lavell “Hangai” Marshall and Ariela “Ariunna”, and Inner Mongolian local Oyuntana. Fate, good fortune, and hard work brought them all together, and love keeps their journey pushing forward toward a bright future. They strive to spread the arts of both Chinese Shuai Jiao and Inner Mongolian Bokh to the world outside of China and beyond, and to support local Inner Mongolian culture and people.

Straight from the grasslands of Inner Mongolia… This is their story.

Lavell was born in Bitburg, Germany to a African-American father and a German mother. As a child growing up watching martial arts movies, Lavell knew that he wanted to one day become a Kung Fu Master. He officially started training martial arts as a 3 year old with the art Tang Soo Do. He first began wrestling around 7 years old and learning Tae Kwon Do, along with dabbling in other styles of martial arts like Wushu. At 13 years old his family relocated from Germany to South Carolina, where he began learning Kung Fu and training consistently until he was 19. During those formative years martial arts was his lifeline and developed more and more into his life passion. In his teenage years he also began to dance in addition to his martial arts training, and he started performing professionally as a break dancer (b-boy) and freestyle dancer until his early 20’s. Lavell was 19 when he met his Teacher, Sifu Omar Harvin, who introduced him to the devastatingly beautiful art of Baoding combat style Shuai Jiao(Chinese Wrestling). He quit college and became a personal trainer in order to allow himself the time to focus on training. He quickly became the USA Chinese Shuai Jiao National Champion at 75kg, and soon after began winning every single North American competition. He went on to win American Shuai Jiao Nationals 5x in two different weight categories (75kg and 82kg). He travelled to China for numerous world championships and in 2017 he won the Shuai Jiao World Cup at 82kg. He has travelled the world competing in many different traditional wrestling styles such as Kazakh Kuresi, Mongolian Bokh, belt wrestling etc. After many years of training, Lavell also began teaching Chinese Wrestling to his own students, many of which who went on to medal at the USA Shuai Jiao National Championships. Ariela is his longest and most decorated student. Lavell and Ariela moved to Inner Mongolia, China in 2019 where Lavell began to make a name for himself in both the Mongolian Wrestling and Chinese Wrestling community. Now known as “American Hangai” (Hangai is his Mongolian name), Lavell has become the first foreigner to ever come to Inner Mongolia and make a name for himself in the Mongolian Wrestling community. Training under Ho Bagsh (Coach Hohoo), Lavell has made it to the top 16 in many competitions with 128 wrestlers. He has also placed in the top 8 twice, the top 4 three times, won his first sheep, and even placed third in one competition. It is Lavell’s dream to become the first foreigner to ever receive a “Jangga” (the ribbon necklace awarded to top wrestlers to indicate their rank and excellence in this wrestling style), and help pave the way for spreading this beautiful art to the rest of the world. Lavell also actively trains Chinese Wrestling with Ho Bagsh and Su Bagsh (Coach Su), a well respected and extremely decorated Chinese and Mongolian Wrestler in Inner Mongolia.

Ariela was born and raised in Petaluma, California as the youngest of six kids in a Mexican-American family. Beginning her wrestling journey as a 14 year old and one of the only women on the Petaluma High School Folkstyle wrestling team, Ariela has continued to inspire as a woman’s pioneer in the wrestling world. She attended Tufts University where she took a short hiatus from wrestling to play women’s collegiate rugby and she graduated Summa Cum Laude with a double major in American Studies and Sociology. After her graduation she moved to New York City where she became a personal trainer at Equinox gym and resumed her wrestling career. She practiced Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu at the world renowned Renzo Gracie Academy in New York City and is a purple belt under Renzo Gracie, himself, and John Danaher. During her BJJ career she won multiple IBJJF New York Championships at different belt levels. Ariela also began training Chinese Shuai Jiao in NYC when she met Lavell, and under his coaching she won two consecutive American National Shuai Jiao Championships in the women’s 56kg weight category. In 2017 she also won the 2017 Shuai Jiao World Cup in the 56kg weight class. In 2019 Lavell and Ariela decided to move to Inner Mongolia to pursue their wrestling dreams. Ariela became an English teacher at Inner Mongolia University, the most prestigious university in the whole Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region. She also began training Chinese Wrestling with the Hohhot Professional Shuai Jiao Team under Su Bagsh (Coach Su) where she is one of very few women wrestlers. In China Ariela has competed in numerous Chinese Wrestling competitions, namely the 2019 Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region Chinese Wrestling Championship and the 2019 Chengdu Invitational Chinese Wrestling Championship, both in which she placed first in her weight class, Women’s under 65kg category, and Women’s 56kg category, respectively. Due to the COVID-19 situation, she has not been able to compete recently in Shuai Jiao, but she is looking forward to continuing her wrestling career in both Chinese and Mongolian Wrestling. In the summer of 2021 she competed in her first women’s Bokh Naadam and she plans to compete in more of these Mongolian Wrestling Competitions in the future. Ariela’s passion in life is wrestling, and she hopes to encourage the growth of women’s wrestling all over the world.

Oyuntana is a local Inner Mongolian, born in Erlian, Inner Mongolia, China. Influenced by both Outer Mongolian and Inner Mongolian culture, she can speak English, Chinese, and many different Mongolian dialects fluently. Oyuntana is an artist in all forms, but she particularly channels her talent into music. She is an original song writer and sings in all three languages. She recently released her first single “You”, produced by Alagui. Being Mongolian, Oyuntana naturally loved wrestling growing up, but it wasn’t until she met Lavell and Ariela that she became so obsessed with her own culture’s very own Mongolian Wrestling. After experiencing the summer naadams with Ariela and Lavell in the grasslands with her own Mongolian people, Oyuntana become passionate about spreading her culture and wrestling to the rest of the world. She came to love wrestlers because of their power, mindset, flexibility, strength, and sensitivity. Along with Ariela and Lavell, she began to study both Mongolian and Chinese Wrestling and began her own wrestling career. It opened a new gate for her and connected her to her culture and people more and more. She has become a recognized and respected member of the local wrestling community where she is always known as the official “Translator” for anyone and everyone. Because of her language abilities and love for Mongolian people, Oyuntana dreams to spread her culture and her art to the world. She hopes to keep her dying culture alive and cultivate a global community in support of Inner Mongolians.