W.A.K.O. World Championships 2005 in Szeged were the joint fifteenth world championships held by the W.A.K.O. organization and the third ever to be held in Hungary - with the other event having been held a couple of months earlier in Agadir, Morocco. The championships in Szeged were open to amateur men and women from across the world with around 720 athletes from 48 countries across five continents taking part.
There were four styles on offer at Szeged; Full-Contact, Light-Contact, Semi-Contact and Aero-Kickboxing. The other styles (Low-Kick, Thai-Boxing and Musical Forms) were held at the Agadir event. By the end of the championships, Russia were the strongest nation overall, followed closely by hosts Hungary, with Italy in third place. The event was held at the Városi Sportcsarnok in Szeged, Hungary on Monday, 28 November to Monday, 5 December 2005 in front of a crowd of around 4,000.
Participating nations
There were around 48 nations from five continents across the world participating at the 2005 W.A.K.O. World Championships in Szeged including:
Austria Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Brazil Bulgaria Canada Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Great Britain Hungary Iran Iraq Ireland Israel Italy Kazakhstan Kenya Latvia Liechtenstein Mexico Morocco New Zealand Nepal Nigeria Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia Seychelles Slovakia Slovenia Spain Syria Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine United States
Full-Contact
Full-Contact is a form of kickboxing where the contestants are allowed to throw punches and kicks at full force at legal targets above the waist. Victories are usually achieved via a point's decision or referee stoppage (e.g. KO/TKO) and as with most other forms of amateur kickboxing, all participants must wear the required head and body protection. More information on Full-Contact kickboxing and the rules can be found on the official W.A.K.O. website. Both men and women had competitions at Szegad, with the men having twelve weight divisions ranging from 51 kg/112.2 lbs to over 91 kg/+200.2 lbs and the women seven, ranging from 48 kg/105.6 lbs to over 70 kg/+143 lbs.
Despite there not being as many familiar faces taking part in the style as in the past, there were a number of double winners who had won at the last European championships in Budva, with Zurab Faroyan and Daniel Martins picking up gold medals. There were also several winners who had won at the 2003 world championships in Paris with Jere Reinikainen and Karolina Lukasik winning gold, while Igor Kulbaev did even better by picking up his third gold medal in a row at a W.A.K.O. championships having also won at Budva and Paris. Regular leaders Russia were once again the top nation in Full-Contact, winning six gold, four silver and five bronze medals in both the male and female categories.
Men's Full-Contact Kickboxing Medals Table
Light Bantamweight -51 kgIwan Bityutskikh Almhid Mntsar Joaquín Céspedes Salas Amir Tnalin Bantamweight -54 kgGabor Aburko Igor Pavlenko Mokhmad Betmirzaev Tomasz Makowski Featherweight -57 kgZurab Faroyan Rkaibi Mounir Nurbolat Rysmagambetov Hosseim Azimi Zamen Lightweight -60 kgDaniel Martins Sandor Kornel Zlatomir Dimitrov Evgeniy Khil Light Welterweight -63.5 kgArild Mikarlsen Biagio Tralli Olexandr Gibert Abdukhalim Bakhtiyev Welterweight -67 kgJere Reinikainen Eldin Raonic Michelle Manzoni Pavel Tarik Light Middleweight -71 kgIgor Kulbaev Mariusz Ziętek Dmytro Yatskov Robert Arvai Middleweight -75 kgAzamat Belgibaev Mhiyaoui Azzeddine Martin Nachev Manuchari Pipiya Light Heavyweight -81 kgDenis Grachev Mamadou Traoré David Nogode Almat Serimon Cruiserweight -86 kgStephen Thompson Sergey Bodgan Jonathan Gromark Mairis Briedis Heavyweight -91 kgNinel Ianculescu Denys Simkin Marko Tomasović Yerzhan Shegenov Balazs Varga Super Heavyweight +91 kgYuri Abramov Michal Wszelak Kenan Akbulat Jukka Saarinen
Women's Full-Contact Kickboxing Medals Table
-48 kgValeria Calabrese Jenny Hardingz Helena Kalinowski Nawal Bouzlaf -52 kgFatma Akyüz Anna Krivoguzova Maris Joeveer Mette Solli -56 kgZsuzsanna Szuknai Lidia Andreeva Jutta Nordberg Natalie Kalinowski -60 kgMonika Florek Olga Zyk Valeriya Kurlyuk Sanja Samardzic -65 kgVera Avdeeva Anne Katas Chiara Mandelli Rita Parkanyi -70 kgKarolina Lukasik Nives Radic Elena Solareva Tetyana Ivashchenko +70 kgSamira El Haddad Jenna Droluk Adina Cocieru Galina Ivanova
Light-Contact
Light-Contact is a form of kickboxing where the contestants can aim kicks and punches thrown with moderate force at legal targets above the waist. It is less physical than Full-Contact but more so than Semi-Contact and is often seen as a transitional stage by fighters wishing to eventually move on to fully physical competition. Most fights are settled by a point's decision although stoppages can occur and like with other forms of amateur kickboxing, head and body protection must be worn. More information on Light-Contact can be found at the W.A.K.O. website. At Szeged 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.
While not full of Nnticeable names there were a few stand out winners in Light-Contact with James Stewart and Tonje Sørlie winning two gold medals at the same championships (they would win in Semi-Contact as well) and regular winners Zoltan Dancso, Klara Morton and Nusa Rajher also picking up winners medals. By the end of the event Hungary were the strongest country in Light-Contact, winning four gold, four silver and two bronze medals.
Men's Light-Contact Kickboxing Medals Table
-57 kgMaxim Aysin Dezső Debreczeni Bakyttay Aukenov Przemyslaw Rekowski -63 kgEvgeny Mayer Sándor Szántó Bengt Karlsson Kostyantyn Demoretskyy -69 kgRuslan Ishmakov Gregory Larbi Rudolf Grega Timur Hamidullin -74 kgAles Zemljic Jerzy Wronski Mario Butschkat Oliver Stricz -79 kgZoltan Dancso Christophe Touzeau Konstantin Seitov Andrea Primitivi -84 kgJeno Novak Mariusz Niziolek Fabian Fingerhut Marat Pukhaev -89 kgMichael Reinbold Gavin Williamson Wojciech Myslinski Tibor Wappel -94 kgChristian Schulz Agostino Pavesi Vladimir Celar Bartłomiej Bocian +94 kgJames Stewart Rishat Kabirov Merlin Gehrt Mark Graden
Women's Light-Contact Kickboxing Medals Table
-50 kgReka Krempf Alexandra Kibanova Heidi Williamsson Florence Zaaboula -55 kgTonje Sørlie Roxane Laszak Christina McMahon Żaneta Cieśla -60 kgKlara Marton Julie McHale Julia Göldner Sara Reale -65 kgKatarzyna Furmaniak Marianna Hudak Sabina Sehic Louise Dixon -70 kgNusa Rajher Ivett Pruzsinszky Katja Moehle Karoline Ek +70 kgMieke Hink Oxana Kinakh Stefanie Hildebrandt Szabina Domokos
Semi-Contact
Semi-Contact is a form of kickboxing where the contestants are allowed to punch and kick one another at legal targets above the waist with minimal force being applied. Almost all matches are settled by a point's decision with the judges scoring on the basis of speed, technique and skill with power prohibited. Despite the less physical nature of the style, various head and body protection is mandatory. More information on Semi-Contact can be found at the W.A.K.O. website. As with Light-Contact 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.
Although not full of glamorous names there were several notable winners in Semi-Contact with James Stewart and Tonje Sørlie winning two gold medals at the same championships (they would win in Light-Contact as well) and winners Dezső Debreczeni, Gregorio Di Leo (third gold medal in a row) and Luisa Lico also picking up medals. By the end of the championships, as with Light-Contact, Hungary were the leaders in Semi-Contact beating competition from Italy, winning three golds, three silvers and two bronze medals.
Men's Semi-Contact Kickboxing Medals Table
-57 kgDezső Debreczeni Maxim Aysin Miroslav Grgic Piotr Bakowski -63 kgAdriano Passoro Viktor Hirsch Robert Haugh Philippe Rossi -69 kgGregorio Di Leo Christian Boujibar Krisztian Jaroszkievicz Daniel Harrison -74 kgAlexander Lane Jacey Cashman Robert McMenamy Bjorn Baert -79 kgJason Brown Kurt Baert Neri Stella Faton Rexhaj -84 kgZvonimir Gribl Robert Knödelseder Christoph Steinlechner Drew Neal -89 kgPeter Ciskos Joseph Greenhalgh Marko Desa David Heffernan -94 kgPero Gazilj Colin O'Shaughnessy Andrea Ongaro Mark Brown +94 kgJames Stewart Daniel Haendel Marco Culiersi Seppi Patterer
Women's Semi-Contact Kickboxing Medals Table
-50 kgFadeeva Svetlana Samantha Aquilano Reka Krempf Andreja Ivas -55 kgTonje Sørlie Betty Kovacs Dorota Godzina Galani Panagiota -60 kgLuisa Lico Carolin Pitzke Christina Szytenchelm Vedrana Halincic -65 kgElaine Small Barbara Szendrei Patricia Berlingieri Lisa Boardman -70 kgNatalie Cassidy Ana Znaor Ivett Pruzsinszky Adelaide Callegari +70 kgBarbara Kovacs Oxana Kinakh Sonya Coakley-Hanan Romina Succi
Aero-Kickboxing
Overall medals standing (top 5)
Ranking Country Gold Silver Bronze 1 Russia 10 9 6 2 Hungary 9 8 7 3 Italy 4 3 9 4 Poland 3 4 9 5 Germany 3 3 10
See also List of WAKO Amateur World Championships List of WAKO Amateur European Championships
References
External links WAKO World Association of Kickboxing Organizations Official Site