Best Fighter - WAKO World Cup - Full Report
On the 1st to 3rd of June 2007, eight members of Master Wolf’s Taekwon-Do Academies competed in the 12th Best Fighter WAKO World Cup, which was held in Salsomaggiore, Itlay.
The eight members, namely Lucy Wolf, Kevin Guy, Richard Belle, Jamaine Hemmings, Jade Duggan, Jasmine Duggan, Charlotte Jones and Leonardo Bocca, were led by Master Wolf to compete in one of the biggest and most prestigious kickboxing competitions in the world. The event was held over three days and included a team competition, full contact fighting, point sparring and continuous sparring, as well as musical forms. Altogether there were over 2000 competitors at the event from 25 countries, which is an increase on the 1800 of last year.
There were many other competitors from England including Team SWAT and the CIMAC fighters.
The first day of competition held on the Friday evening saw the team event take place. The senior team included Lucy Wolf, Kevin Guy, Richard Belle and Jamaine Hemmings - who fought well against some very experienced opponents and unfortunately lost to an Italian team by only one point!
The second day of competition saw the point scoring event take place. This was the most popular day with some divisions having over 40 competitors! The day started well with Jade Duggan winning a bronze in the junior girls under 42kg division. Jade fought well and was unlucky to loose in the semi finals against a much taller and heavier opponent. In the same division Jasmine Duggan also fought well and picked up a silver medal. Jasmine also lost to the much taller and heavier opponent, giving away nearly 10kg. This was a great achievement by both Jade and Jasmine as this was their first major outing at a kickboxing competition.
Jamaine Hemmings also fought well in one of the largest divisions in the competition, under 69kg. Jamaine fought through some tough rounds eventually being narrowly beaten by a very experienced Italian fighter.
The third day of competition saw the continuous sparring event take place. Highlights of the day included Charlotte Jones putting in an amazing performance against some very experienced opponents. This was only Charlotte’s second kickboxing competition and with her only being a red belt black stripe looks like a good prospect for the future.
In addition, Leonardo Bocca fought well, displaying great determination and heart, and gained much experience in this major tournament having entered as only a colour belt grade.
The day ended on a high note with Kevin Guy taking bronze in the senior under 94kg division.
The other MWTA fighters did not medal but all really performed well. Compared with the previous year, the MWTA competitors seemed cope much more comfortably with the smaller ring sizes and were more at home with the different rules and scoring system.
MWTA would like to thank Gianfranco Rizzi for his hospitality and for hosting a fair and well-organized event. We look forward to returning for a third time next year!
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