W.A.K.O. World Championships 2007 in Coimbra were the joint 16th edition of the W.A.K.O. world championships and was the second event (the Belgrade event having been held a month previously). The championships were for amateur male and female kickboxers and martial artists, covering the following categories; Full-Contact, Semi-Contact, Musical Forms and Aero Kickboxing. In the contact kickboxing categories (Semi and Full), weight classes ranged from light bantamweight (51 kg/112 lbs) to super heavyweight (over 91 kg/200.6 lbs). The Musical Forms and Aero Kickboxing categories did not have weight classes but had different forms. More information on the categories, weight classes and rules is provided in the various sections below. In total there were around 600 competitors at the event, representing fifty countries from five continents, competing in forty-three competitions. The Coimbra championships were held at the Pavilhão Multiusos de Coimbra in Coimbra, Portugal from Monday, November 26 to Sunday, December 2, 2007.
Full-Contact
Full-Contact is kickboxing where the intention is to defeat the opponent using legal techniques applying full force. Legal strikes include punches and kicks to the head (front, side and forehead), the torso (front and side) and foot/feet (sweeps). Attacks that are illegal include strikes to the top of the head, the back, the top of the shoulders, the neck and anywhere below the belt (except for foot sweeps). As with most forms of amateur competition, all fighters are required to wear protection for their head, teeth, breast (women only) groin, shin and feet, and must fight with the standard 10oz gloves.
A minimum of six kicks must be thrown each round or points may be deducted by the referee. Each fight is three, two-minute rounds and is scored by three judges. The judges will score successful (legal) strikes that are not blocked, and are thrown with full power. Illegal moves may result in points deduction or if repeated, disqualification. In the event of a draw after three rounds the judges will base the victor on who was stronger in the final round, or failing that will use their remarks from each round to deduce who wins. Victory can be achieved by a point's decision, technical knockout or knockout, abandonment (when one fighter gives up), disqualification or by a walkover (other fighter is unable to participate). If a fighter is knocked down three times in the fight he will automatically lose via technical knockout. More detail on Full-Contact rules can be found at the official W.A.K.O. website.
At Coimbra the men had twelve weight classes ranging from light bantamweight (51 kg/112.2 lbs) to super heavyweight (over 91 kg/200.2 lbs), while the women's had seven, ranging from bantamweight (51 kg/112.2 lbs) to super heavyweight (over 70 kg/154 lbs). By the end of the championships, the nation that dominated Full-Contact was Russia with an impressive haul of ten gold, four silvers and one bronze, in both the male and female categories.
Full-Contact (Men) Medals Table
Light Bantamweight -51 kgIvan Sciolla Zaur Mammadov Joaquin Lespedes Salas Ivan Bityutskikh Bantamweight -54 kgMiras Brimzhanov Sergiy Chezkaskyy Raúl Pandiella Gutiérrez Barış Fidanoğlu Featherweight -57 kgDamian Ławniczak Alexander Shamry Talgat Jusupov Elnur Salamov Lightweight -60 kgZurab Faroyan Eduard Mammadov Daniel Martins Kornel Sandor Light Welterweight -63.5 kgMardan Buzdaev Andrea Scaglione Brian Dickson Tomasz Pietraszewski Welterweight -67 kgVladimir Tarasov Stepan Avramidi Ramil Nadirov Edmond Mebenga Light Middleweight -71 kgEvgeny Grechishkin Christian Kvatningen Mariusz Ziętek Dmytro Yatskov Middleweight -75 kgAzamat Belgibaev Manuchari Pipiya Francesco Margiotta Alpay Kır Light Heavyweight -81 kgNikita Kuzmin Ehram Majidov Dénes Rácz Micky Marshall Cruiserweight -86 kgSergey Bogdan Sadibou Sy Mairis Briedis Sergio Goncalves Heavyweight -91 kgRoman Beskishkov Milorad Gajović Denis Simkin Bartłomiej Bocian Super Heavyweight +91 kgAlexey Tokarev Marko Tomasović Jukka Saarinen Tihamér Brunner
Full-Contact (Women) Medals Table
Bantamweight -48 kgOlesya Gladkova Valeria Calabrese Mariyam Yegemberdiyeva Kuebra Lakot Featherweight -52 kgEva Maria Naranjo Ekaterina Dumbrava Christina McMahon Nadege Szikora Lightweight -56 kgMette Solli Zsuzsanna Szuknai Jutta Nordberg Ellada Dohosian Middleweight -60 kgMonika Florek Nelli Glebova Bianca Amann Letizia Bitozzi Light Heavyweight -65 kgKatarzyna Furmaniak Nicole Trimmel Chiara Mandelli Holly Deacon Heavyweight -70 kgOlga Slavinskaya Birgit Oksnes Marija Pejakovic Tetyana Ivashenko Super Heavyweight +70 kgElena Kondratyeva Adina Cociern Zita Zatyko Karen Dews
Semi-Contact
This form of kickboxing is defined by the competitors trying to outscore one another with the use of light and well-controlled contact, with the emphasis being placed on delivery, technique and speed, using both legal hand and foot techniques. It is similar to Light-Contact kickboxing only that less force is used in Semi-Contact, with almost all fights won on points, although matches have been stopped by the referee due to a KO/TKO on rare occasions. Attacks are allowed to the head (front, side, back and forehead), torso (front and side) leg (foot sweeps only) and must be of reasonable force (not a push or a brush). Excessive force is prohibited as are attacks to the top of the head, back, top of shoulders, neck and below the belt (aside from foot sweeps) or any kicks using the heel (the sole of foot must be used instead). It is also illegal to grab an opponent or throw them to the ground. Semi-Contact is seen as a good starting position for fighters who want fight experience without the additional physicality of Full or (to a lesser extent) Light-Contact kickboxing. Despite the less physical nature all fighters are still required to wear protection for their head, teeth, breast (women only) groin, shin and feet, and must fight with the standard 10oz gloves.
Fighters score the following points for landing a controlled strike on their opponent; punch, kick to body, foot sweep (1 point), kick to head, jumping kick to body (2 points), jumping kick to head (3 points). Each fight is three, two-minute rounds and is scored by three judges. In the event of a draw the match will be scored electronically. Victory can be achieved by points decision, knockout or technical knockout (both rare), abandonment (when one fighter gives up), disqualification or by a walkover (the other fighter is unable to participate). More detail on Semi-Contact rules can be found at the official W.A.K.O. website.
Semi-Contact uses slightly different weight classes from Full-Contact kickboxing. At Coimbra the men's Semi-Contact competition had nine weight classes ranging from 57 kg/125.4 lbs to over 94 kg/206.8 lbs, while the women's had six, ranging from 50 kg/110 lbs to over 70 kg/154 lbs. There was also a team event at the competition, involving three men and one woman for each of the participating nations, with the woman to be paired against another woman only. By the end of the championships, Hungary was the top nation in Semi-Contact with four gold, three silver and two bronze medals, in the male, female and team categories.
Semi-Contact (Men) Medals Table
-57 kgRobbie Lavoie Piotr Bąkowski Maxim Aysin Dezső Debreczeni -63 kgAndrea Lucchese Viktor Hirsch Juvan Klemen Taskin Kahveci -69 kgGregorio Di Leo Tamás Imre Przemysław Ziemnicki Kostas Taboureas -74 kgRobbie McMenamy Nikos Memmos Jason Brown Jacey Cashman -79 kgZsolt Moradi Neri Stella Mark McDermott Mitko Kostadinov -84 kgJason Grenier Andreas Aggelopoulos Zvonimir Gribl Robert Knoedlseder -89 kgMichael Page Dave Heffernan Roberto Montuoro Michael Simmons -94 kgPero Gazilj Michael Decain Mark Brown Petr Kotik +94 kgMarco Culiersi Andy Hogan Ranis Smajlovic Lee Matthews
Semi-Contact (Women) Medals Table
-50 kgReka Krempf Sharon Gill Fadeeva Svetlana Eygenia Kaskantiri -55 kgMaria Kushtanova Eirin Dale Peny Galani Lorraine McDermott -60 kgGloria De Bei Lisa Boardman Emilia Szablowska Klara Marton -65 kgMelanie Moder Chiara Leonardi Lorraine Hughes Ina Grindheim -70 kgZsofia Minda Adriane Doppler Ana Znaor Liliya Saifullina +70 kgAnna Kondar Natalie Cassidy Oxana Kinakh Rosemarie James
Semi-Contact (Team) Medals Table
Team Semi-ContactTeam Great Britain Team Hungary Team Germany Team USA
Musical Forms Musical Forms is a non-physical competition which involves the contestant fighting against imaginary opponents using Martial Arts techniques to music of their choice. There are no weight classes as with most other W.A.K.O. categories although there are separate male and female competitions and, unlike the contact categories, an individual country was allowed more than one competitor. There are four separate categories in Musical Forms:
Hard Styles – coming from Karate and Taekwondo, all competitors have 1 minute and 30 seconds to display their routine, as well as a 30-second presentation. Soft Styles – coming from Kung Fu and Wu-Sha, all competitors have 2 minutes to display their routine, as well as a 30-second presentation. Hard Styles with Weapons – using weapons such as Kama, Sai, Tonfa, Nunchaku, Bō, Katana, length of routine is the same as with Hard Styles, weapons must be blunt. Soft Styles with Weapons - Naginata, Nunchaku, Tai Chi Chuan Sword, Whip Chain, length of routine is the same as with Soft Styles, weapons must be blunt.
Points can be deducted for routines that are too short or go past the allocated time. Points are also deducted for contestants who drop weapons, loss of synchronization with the music, lose balance, perform illegal moves such as western break dancing etc. The competitors are allowed three gymnastic moves per performance, any more results in a point(s) deduction. Disqualification can occur if too many errors occur. Points are awarded for successful form and technique (e.g. delivery of kicks and punches), balance, degree of difficulty involved in a move, synchronization and more. The winner of each category is scored after seven presentations with points scored out of ten for the performance. If a fighter is tied on points after the presentation they will share a spot (or medal). More information on Musical Forms and the rules can be found on the W.A.K.O. website. By the end of the championships, Russia was the strongest nation in Musical Forms having won four golds, four silvers and five bronzes in both the male and female categories.
Musical Forms (Men) Medals Table
Hard StylesDaniel Sterling Robert Andreozzi Andrey Bosak Soft StylesAndrey Bosak Michael Moeller Evgeny Krylov Hard Styles - WeaponsAndrey Savushkin Robert Andreozzi Daniel Stirling Andrey Bosak Michael Moeller Soft Styles - WeaponsEvgeny Krylov Andrey Bosak Michael Moeller
Musical Forms (Women) Medals Table
Hard StylesJessica Holmes Olga Kudinova Elena Chirkova Soft StylesVeronika Dombrovskaya Elena Chirkova Inna Berestova Hard Styles - WeaponsVeronika Dombrovskaya Maria Pekarchik Ekaterina Chizhikova Soft Styles - WeaponsEkaterina Chizhikova Elena Chirkova Veronika Dombrovskaya
Aero Kickboxing
As with Musical Forms, Aero Kickboxing is a non physical competition, involving aerobic and kickboxing techniques in time to specifically selected music. This music must be between 135 and 155 b.p.m. and must not contain any swear words or inappropriate noises. There are no weight divisions like in other forms of kickboxing in W.A.K.O. but there are separate male, female and team categories, each split into 'with (aerobic) step' or 'without (aerobic) step', and, unlike the contact categories, an individual country was allowed more than one competitor, with the team event even having several teams from the same country. Each performance must be between 1.5 and 2 minutes long and be 70% kickboxing and 30% aerobics, with at least five kicks/punches per period (every 32 musical beats).