W.A.K.O. European Championships 2008 (Varna) Explained

W.A.K.O. European Championships 2008 (Varna)
Promotion:W.A.K.O.
Date:22 - 25 October 2008
Venue:Palace of Culture and Sports
City: Varna, Bulgaria
Previousevent:W.A.K.O. World Championships 2007 (Coimbra)
Followingevent:W.A.K.O. European Championships 2008 (Oporto)

W.A.K.O. European Championships 2008 in Varna were the joint twenty European kickboxing championships held by the W.A.K.O. organization arranged by the Bulgarian kickboxing chief Boyan Kolev, with the second event to be held the next month in Oporto, Portugal. It was the second W.A.K.O. event to be held in Varna and Bulgaria (the last was in 1992) and involved around 500 amateur men and women from 35 countries across Europe.

There were four styles on offer at Varna: Full-Contact and Semi-Contact kickboxing, Musical Forms and Aero-Kickboxing. Only one competitor per weight division were allowed to participate in the Full and Semi-Contact divisions and this also applied for Aero-Kickboxing (which had no weight divisions), while Musical Forms was allowed two maximum per country. The other styles (Low-Kick, K-1, Light-Contact) would be available at the later event in Portugal. The top nation by the end of the championships was Hungary, with regular leaders Russia in second and Ukraine in third. The event was held over four days at the Palace of Culture and Sports in Varna, Bulgaria, starting on Wednesday, 22 October and ending on Saturday, 25 October 2008.[1] [2]

Full-Contact

Full-Contact is a style of kickboxing where punches and kicks are allowed to be thrown by the participants at full force, with strikes below the waist prohibited. Most fights result in a judge’s decision or stoppage victory and as with most other forms of amateur kickboxing, head and various body protection must be worn. More information on Full-Contact and the rules can be found at the official W.A.K.O. website.[3] The men had twelve weight divisions in Varga ranging from 51 kg/112.2 lbs to over 91 kg/+200.2 lbs while the women had seven ranging from 48 kg/105.6 lbs to over 70 kg/+143 lbs. Unlike previous W.A.K.O. championships there was not an influx of talent at the Varga event with only several repeat winners such as Alexey Tokarev, having won gold at the world championships in Coimbra the previous year, and Serhiy Cherkaskyy and Hamza Kendircioğlu, having won gold medals at the Europeans in Lisbon two years before. Russia were the strongest nation in the style, pipping neighbours Ukraine into first place by virtue of having won five golds, two silvers and two bronze.[4]

Men's Full-Contact Kickboxing Medals Table

Light Bantamweight -51 kgVyacheslav Kanayev Ivan Sciolla Artem Skobchenko
Wojciech Perit
Bantamweight -54 kgSerhiy Cherkaskyy Franck Gross Filip Ehsan
Ilnaz Sayfullin
Featherweight -57 kgAlexander Shamray Damian Ławniczak
Lightweight -60 kgVasily Zaytsev Søren Jørgensen Prodan Iovchev
Emrah Ogut
Light Welterweight -63.5 kgGabor Gorbics Kenan Gunaydin Kostyantyn Demoretskyy
Tomasz Pietraszewski
Welterweight -67 kgEdmond Mebenga Davyd Ahakhanov Ibrahim Cicek
Jarkko Jussila
Light Middleweight -71 kgChristian Kvatningen Vladimir Tarasov Svetoslav Malechkov
Przemysław Ziemnicki
Middleweight -75 kgAndreas Lødrup Stilian Angelov Pavel Garaj
Viktor Pethes
Light Heavyweight -81 kgIgor Prykhodko Artak Aganesyan Ferenc Hosszu
Igor Emkic
Cruiserweight -86 kgMairis Briedis Rafał Aleksandrowicz Gamal Hazimeh
Petar Iliev
Heavyweight -91 kgAlexey Tokarev Denys Simkin Veniamin Davidis
Ladislav Kacmarak
Super Heavyweight +91 kgHamza Kendircioğlu Jukka Saarinen Jacek Puchacz
Tihamer Brunner

Women's Full-Contact Kickboxing Medals Table

Bantamweight -48 kgVira Makresova Marja-Liisa Väänänen Plamena Dimova
Therese Gunnarsson
Featherweight -52 kgNadiya Khayenok Mette Solli Sabine Seifert
Liza Padazi
Lightweight -56 kgValeriya Ishakova Eva Maria Naranjo Tonje Sørlie
Zsuzsanna Szuknai
Middleweight -60 kgThea Therese Næss Maria Konstadelov Monika Florek
Sanja Samardzic
Light Heavyweight -65 kgKatarina Furmaniau Julia Irmen Anne Katas
Oleksandra Pliusnina
Heavyweight -70 kgCaroline Ek Marija Pejakovic Irena Gavrelova
Nives Radic
Super Heavyweight +70 kgZeliha Dogrugunes Karen Dews Adina Cocieru
Valeria Mercurio

Semi-Contact

Semi-Contact is the least physical of the contact kickboxing styles available at W.A.K.O. events. It involves the participants throwing controlled strikes at targets above the waist, with point's scored on the basis of speed and technique with power prohibited. Despite the less physical nature all contestants must wear head and various body protection - more detail on the Semi-Contact and the rules can be found on the official W.A.K.O. website.[5] At Vargas the men had nine weight divisions ranging from 57 kg/125.4 lbs to over 94 kg/+206.8 lbs while the women had six, ranging from 50 kg/110 lbs to over 70 kg/154 lbs and there was also a mixed team event.

Although not full of recognisable faces there were several winners from recent world and European championships with Zsolt Moradi and Zsofia Minda picking up their third gold medals in a row at W.A.K.O. championships, while Andrea Lucchese, Marco Culiersi, Anna Kondar and Gloria De Bei had also won at the last world championships. By the end of the championships, Hungary were easily the most dominant nation in the style, winning ten gold, two silver and two bronze, which also included winning the team event as well.[6]

Men's Semi-Contact Kickboxing Medals Table

-57 kgRichard Veres Robbie Hughes Jason Doyle
Piotr Bakowski
-63 kgAndrea Lucchese Viktor Hirsch Klemen Buzina
Vitaly Timofeev
-69 kgLaszlo Gombos Domenico De Marco Michael Gebhart
Christian Welker
-74 kgTamas Imre Gregorio Di Leo Morten Spissoy
Nikos Memmos
-79 kgZsolt Moradi Stella Neri Rami-Alexandras Raslan
Billy Bryce
-84 kgKristian Jaroszkiewicz Robert Knödelseder Andreas Anelopoulos
Zvonmir Gribl
-89 kgMichel Decian Drew Neal Zoltan Dancso
Dave Hetternan
-94 kgGiuseppe De Marco Peter Csikos Gunther Wenninger
Petr Kotik
+94 kgTibor Wappel Lee Matthews Daniel Handel
Gunter Wohlwend

Women's Semi-Contact Kickboxing Medals Table

-50 kgSharon Gill Valentina Barbieri Sinead Beasley
Ksenia Guralnik
-55 kgDorota Godzina Sharon McDermott Linda Fogliano
Klaudia Diligens
-60 kgGloria De Bei Ida Abrahamsen Emilia Szablowska
Fadeeva Svetlana
-65 kgBojan Dancsecs Elaine Small Irena Kobosilova
Ina Grindheim
-70 kgZsofia Minda Ana Znaor Natalie Cassidy
Adriane Doppler
+70 kgAnna Kondar Ciara McShane Jennifer Otoo
Maria Mauriello

Team's Semi-Contact Kickboxing Medals Table

Musical Forms

Musical Forms is a type of non-physical competition which sees the contestants fighting against imaginary foes using Martial Arts techniques - more information on the style can be found on the W.A.K.O. website.[7] Unlike Full and Semi-Contact kickboxing there were no weight divisions, only male and female competitions and competitors were allowed to compete in more than one category with some countries having than one athlete in each category. The men and women at Varga competed in four different styles explained below:

There were a few familiar winners in Musical Forms at Varga, with regular gold medallists Andrey Bosak and Maria Pekarchyk winning two events each and Veronika Dombrovskaya winning one. By the end of the championships Russia were the top nation in Musical Forms winning four gold, six silver and one bronze.[8]

Men's Musical Forms Medals Table

Hard StylesAndrey Savushkin Phil Campbell Alberto Leonardi
Soft StylesAndrey Bosak Nikita Pavlov Sedat Sagiroglu
Hard Styles - WeaponsMassimiliano Castellacci Andrey Savushkin Kevin Cetout
Soft Styles - WeaponsAndrey Bosak Nikita Pavlov Filippo Fontana

Women's Musical Forms Medals Table

Hard StylesMaria Pekarchyk Elena Chirkova Anastasiya Ovod
Soft StylesVeronika Dombrovskaya Inna Bekestovaya Danausova Darya
Hard Styles - WeaponsMaria Pekarchyk Anna Likhonina Anastasiya Ovod
Elena Chirkova
Soft Styles - WeaponsEkaterina Chizhikova Veronika Dombrovskaya Danausova Darya

Aero-Kickboxing

Aero-Kickboxing is a non-physical competition, involving participants using a mixture of aerobic and kickboxing techniques in time to specifically selected music. There are no weight divisions as with other forms of kickboxing in W.A.K.O. but there are separate male, female and team categories, with or without an aerobic step. As with Musical Forms, competitors were allowed to compete in more than one category and some countries had more than one athlete in each category. More information on Aero-Kickboxing and the rules can be found on the W.A.K.O. website.[9] Although a lower prestige sport compared to other events, Mikhail Gerasimov stood out amongst the winners by taking gold in both men's events. The top nation in Aero-Kickboxing was Hungary who claimed four golds, one silver and one bronze, which included winning both of the team events.[10]

Men's Aero-Kickboxing Medals Table

Aero Individual without StepMikhail Gerasimov Mihaly Perneki İnanç Kahveci
Aero Individual with StepMikhail Gerasimov Husrev Uzunali Mihaly Perneki

Women's Aero-Kickboxing Medals Table

Aero Individual without StepBrigitta Gazdag Darya Danausova Tina Gerbec
Aero Individual with StepMarianna Hegyi Olena Sereda Darya Danausova

Team Aero-Kickboxing Medals Table

Aero Team without StepHungary Croatia Austria
Aero Team with StepHungary Croatia No bronze awarded

Overall Medals Standing (Top 5)

RankingCountryGold Silver Bronze
1 Hungary1537
2 Russia1186
3 Ukraine448
4 Italy466
5 Norway333

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: WAKO EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS VARNA 2008 (Event details). 2011-07-05. wakoweb.com.
  2. Web site: A BEAUTIFUL EVENT - . : WAKO World Association of Kickboxing ... (Event review). 2011-07-05. wakoweb.com.
  3. Web site: WAKO Full contact Rules. 2011-07-03. wakoweb.com. 9 March 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20120309043613/http://www.wakoweb.com/Pdf/6857.pdf. dead.
  4. Web site: ALL RESULTS.zip (Results EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP FC, SC, MF and AERO VARNA (Bulgaria) 22.10.2008 - 25.10.2008). 2011-07-05. wakoweb.com.
  5. Web site: Semi-Contact Rules . 2011-07-03 . wakoweb.com . https://web.archive.org/web/20110726151626/http://www.wakoweb.com/Pdf/1016.pdf . 26 July 2011 . dead . dmy-all.
  6. Web site: ALL RESULTS.zip (Results EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP FC, SC, MF and AERO VARNA (Bulgaria) 22.10.2008 - 25.10.2008). 2011-07-05. wakoweb.com.
  7. Web site: WAKO Musical Forms Rules. 2011-07-05. wakoweb.com. 9 March 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20120309043728/http://www.wakoweb.com/Pdf/6856.pdf. dead.
  8. Web site: ALL RESULTS.zip (Results EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP FC, SC, MF and AERO VARNA (Bulgaria) 22.10.2008 - 25.10.2008). 2011-07-05. wakoweb.com.
  9. Web site: WAKO Aero Kickboxing Rules. 2011-07-03. wakoweb.com.
  10. Web site: ALL RESULTS.zip (Results EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP FC, SC, MF and AERO VARNA (Bulgaria) 22.10.2008 - 25.10.2008). 2011-07-05. wakoweb.com.