16th WAKO World Championships - Serbia

Report by Sensei Dwyer Evelyn - WAKO Light Contact, Team GB Coach


It was an early start at Heathrow airport, for the WAKO light contact kickboxing squad � Team GB, and after a pleasurable two-hour flight, we arrived in Belgrade, in Serbia for the 16th WAKO (World Association of Kickboxing Organisations) World Kickboxing Championships, which was being held from the 26th to the 30th of September 2007. We went straight to the stadium for the weigh-in, and for a change, the team was in and out fairly smoothly with everyone making their weight, so for us, it was time to relax and catch up on some well needed sleep. As was the next day where we rested and did a bit of sight seeing.

The championships began with the opening ceremony, the competition, with 109 countries represented for this 16th world championship. After the opening ceremony, the competition began with three two-minute rounds (under WAKO Light Contact rules). Kicking off the competition for Team GB was Audifax Kinga fighting Dejan Cepic for Croatia in the under 69kg category. Unfortunately for us, Audifax wasn't on from on this occasion and was beaten in the first round of the competition.
Next up was the new WAKO team member, was Nicholas Gardener, in the mens under 79kg category, taking on Mirzad Vukalic from Slovenia. Nicholas was on top from and won his fight 3 -0, taking him into the next round, to face Ruslan Ishmakov from Russia the following day. Nick was clearly the stronger fighter in this match, with much better techniques and in the lead with two clean rounds under his belt. However, with 30 seconds left to go and being pushed off the mat in the 3rd round with the 4th exit, he was disqualified controversially.
Also fighting this day was Richard Phillips in the under 94kg and Andrew Gallagher in the 84kg both not quite making it to the quarterfinals.

Next up in the competition, Barry McGinlay in the mens under 57kg, was up against Graf Clemens from Austria, with 3-0 giving GB another win. This took Barry into the quarterfinals where unfortunately he met Dezso Debreczeni from Hungary, who was on his way to his 7th WAKO World Title. Next up, Team GB had a loss with Christian Thompson in the mens under 74kg, fighting Kieran Ryan. Also losing out to Ireland was Kevin Guy fighting against Anthony Fallon in the mens over 94kg. At this low point, a couple of the girls also lost out. These included Stephanie Toal up against Diana Campbell from Ireland in the over 70kg category, and Louise Dixon against Trimmel Nicols from Austrian in the under 65kg. Both of these bouts were close and could have gone either way, unfortunately not ours.
Staying with the girls, we did have some success starting with Lucy Wolf in her first time out with the WAKO team. She fought Johanna Schafberg from Germany in the under 50kg. Lucy won this fight 2-1 taking her through to the quarterfinals to meet Patrycja Kotlarz from Poland. Lucy won this fight decisively 3-0, putting her on the medal table and into the semifinals where she met Reke Krempf from Hungary. For a while we thought that we would be going to the finals with Lucy. But it wasn't to be as Reke Krempf won this match and Lucy Wolf ended up with a WAKO bronze medal.
Next up, for the ladies in the under 70kg, was Diane Cameron fighting Austria's Binz Sandra. Diane also made us proud, winning 2-1 and taking us into the semifinals where she lost out to Karin Edenius from Sweden, but still brought home a well-earned bronze medal.
Last but not least, in the mens under 89kg, was our very own WAKO European 2006 Champion, Gavin Williamson, back on track to improve on his last World silver medal. First in the firing line was Michal Sedlacek from Slovakia with Gavin winning 3-0, next in cross airs was Sebastino La Spina from Italy, then, in the quarterfinals Gavin met a friend and foe from Austria, Prosic Juso who was determined to beat Gavin but failed, putting Gavin in the final and in reach of the gold medal. The final commenced with Gavin against Fabian Fingerhurt from Russia. After a very close 3 rounds Fabian Fingerhurt got the decision and Gavin won another WAKO silver medal. Not being bias but we all thought it should have been Gavin's gold.

Well done to all the medal winners: Lucy, Diane and Gavin and the rest of the light contact team who made this trip memorable and enjoyable. I would also like to thank for their help, Ted Wolf and John Morley! A big thank you to all the WAKO team.


See the MWTA Gallery for the full article featured in the January 2008 edition of Combat Magazine!



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