Kyokushin Headlines

Kazumi returns to take the All Japan title from Kiyama		Suzuki gets revenge on Tsukamoto to halt comeback
	This event saw four time former champion Hajime Kazumi (right) fight in the All Japan Tournament (IKO 1) for the first time since 1998. Since then Hitoshi Kiyama has won the title on both occasions so the crowd anticipated an exciting match up. After Kentaro Tanaka and Tadakuni Tokuda were defeated in the semi finals the crowd finally got the fight they were waiting for. A close fight saw Kazumi prevailing over the skilful Kiyama to complete an astonishing achievement of five All Japan wins.	The 34th All Japan Tournament (IKO 2) saw the long awaited return of
			former World Champion Tsukamoto to try and take the title back form old rival and defending Champion Suzuki in an event that was full of the top fighters looking for a place in the team for the 8th World Tournament. The final day saw Tsukamoto defeat the strong Horike, Tsukakoshi; with a now perfected rolling mawashi geri for wazari, and then Niiho in the semi finals. Sato; who had previously defeated Saeki, looked in trouble against Nomoto before gaining an ippon for a Jodan mawashi geri but eventually lost to Ishihara in the last eight.

Donstov, Dedik & Peplov take top prizes		Suzuki (above) looked in trouble against Osaka before winning in the second extension and then overcame Ishihara in the other semi final in what was an very close fight. This was to be the fourth time Suzuki and Tsukamoto had met in the All Japan final and both fighters were aiming for their third title. Tsukamoto started well but Suzuki became stronger as the fight went on and Tsukamoto struggled with his opponent who was now much stronger than the Suzuki of old. Suzuki wore his opponent down who by now had no energy left and claimed his third All Japan title.
The fighters of five continents convened for the second IFK World Championships held in November in Valencia, Spain. It was Russian fighters who ultimately came out on top. Konstantin Donstov won the lightweight section after defeating fellow countryman Lukjanov in the final.
Other strong contenders in this section were Spain's Salva, Zimmerman of Canada and Manzoor of Pakistan who made it to the last eight, and British fighter Chanagagasubay and Neroda of Belarus who both claimed third. Maxim Dedik (right) was in awesome form as he took the middleweight title against Appaev of Russia in the final. Strong showings saw Holland's Gerritsen and Switzerland's Hofer take third. Igor Peplov won the heavyweight title by beating Britain's Paul Travers in the final to complete the Russian set.		Osipov defeats all on comers
		In an enormously prestigious event held in Paris in March, 32 of the top fighters from 16 countries convened for a keenly anticipated tournament. The undoubted star was Sergey Osipov from Russia who with his powerful punches and lightning fast jodan mawashi geri made him unstoppable as he marched through the draw. Polish fighters Najduch,Banasik, Mandok and Kowoski put in a good display all finishing in the top 8 places.
Ishihara wins in Fukuoka In an event held in Fukuoka and organized by Kenji Midori saw 32 competitors from 16 countries convened. The event saw Japanese fighters ultimately prevail taking six of the top eight places.		Japan's Shinji Adachi was also in good form but lost out to Brazils Teixeira in the semi finals. It was Osipov (above) however who grabbed the headlines with an awesome display which culminated in a Ippon in the final for a jodan mawashi geri against Teixiera.

	Only the impressive Russian Vitalius Koldyazhny and very strong Ukrainian Olexiy Kasatanov managed to break the Japanese stronghold and finish in the top eight along with Hideaki Koizumi and Yuichiro Osaka. The superb former World middleweight champion, and former All Japan runner up Tadashi Ishihara (left) won the event by defeating the current All Japan middleweight Champion Yoshitako Sato in the final. Superb showings saw Tsukakoshi Takayuki and Tsuyoshi Takezawa finish in third an fourth respectively in a tournament that had proved to be a huge success.	Teixeira defends Americas Cup
			The Americas Cup was held for the 7th time in June in New York City with arguably its strongest ever field of competitors from North America, South America, Japan, Europe & Russia. Russia's Zalim Temrokov, Brazilian Zander Sasaaki, Thomas Najduch of Poland and American Keiji Ouchi all fought well to reach the last eight. The day culminated in two thrilling semi finals that saw Russia's Kurbanov drop Kimura of Japan for a wazari, and the Brazilian Teixeira (left) finally overpowering Japanese fighter Honma. The final saw two immensely strong fighters who both tried for spectacular knockouts on numerous occasions. Unfortunately for Kurbanov he had a genten ichi awarded against him for a clash of heads and this was enough for Teixeira to regain the title.

Kostov & Najduch power to 3rd & 4th European titles		Dimitrov takes top prize in Budapest
In the European Championships (IKO 1) held in Varna, Bulgaria, there were familiar names on the Podium. Bulgaria's World Middleweight Champion Emil Kostov (right) powered to his third European title and Poland's Thomasz Nadjuch claimed his fourth in the super heavyweight section by defeating compatriot Marek Kosowski. Lucian Gogonel of Romania obtained his second title in the lightweight category by defeating Semen Jakowienko from Ukraine. Finally Akos Aladics of Hungary added the European Championship title to the European Cup that he won early in the year in the heavyweight section when he defeated Marek Kubek of Austria.		In the European Openweight Championships (IKO 2); held in May in Budapest, Hungary, Bulgarian Heavyweight Champion Valerie Dmitrov (right) took the title after defeating Denmark's Brian Jakobsen in the final. The final four was made up entirely of heavyweights and saw two very physically strong fighters in Dane Benno Rasmussen and Daniel Torok of Hungary share third place to make up the podium places. Other strong performances saw Lithuanian Arturas Mazeliauskas, Swedes Niklas Ollvid and Benjamin Vladi and Holland's Mark Potma all make the last eight.

Brazil Claim World Cup		Hirano, Sato & Nomoto take titles
	The Brazilian team containing Ulysses Isobe, Eduardo Tanaka, Diogo de Sousa Silva, Ewerton Teixeira & Sergio da Costa claimed victory in the second World Team Cup held in September in Sao Paolo, Brazil. In the final they defeated the Russian team who had previously knocked out defending Champions Japan in the semi finals leaving them with a share of third place with the South American 'A' Team.	Japanese fighters fended off a strong onslaught from Russian fighters in the 20th All Japan Weight Championships (IKO 2) to gain the top places. Kenji Hirano defeated the Russian Vasily Khudiakov in the final of the lightweights to win the the tournament for the second time with Daisuke Komiyama and Yoshihiro Umemoto taking third and fourth place respectively. Yoshitaka Sato defended his middleweight crown by defeating Tsuyoshi Takezawa, with Shiro Kawamoto in third with a further strong Russian competitor in Roman Nesterenko taking fourth. In another Japan versus Russia final Naohiro Nomoto defeated the very strong Gennadi Nechaev to win the heavyweight crown for the first time.

Kurbanov in historical win

Aladics claims home glory as Russian claim the spoils

The 20th All Japan Weight Championships (IKO 1) saw the imperious Russian Lechi Kurbanov create history to become the first non Japanese winner in the tournaments history as he defeated Hideki Tokumoto to win the Super Heavyweight category. Naoji Mikoshiba beat Masashi Nakagawa in the final of the Heavyweight section and the excellent Shin Itoh won the middleweight title with Osamu Shiojima taking the lightweight crown.

In the 3rd edition of the hugely successful European Cup, held in May in Baja, Hungary, Russian fighters claimed the majority of the top prizes. Lakaev won the lightweights ahead of Hungary's Szegedi. Abatsov defeated Alyanchikov in all all Russian middleweight final as Spain's Lezcano and Lithuania's Strimaitas finished third. There was joy for the home crowd as Aladics defeated Russia's Sulemonov in the heavyweight final with another Hungarian Lorant and Djordjevic of Yugoslavia making the podium. The heavyweight section was won by the awesome Kurbanov who defeated the valiant Ommondal of Norway into second with two Hungarians Devenyi and Solyom taking the remainder of the prizes.

Najduch adds European Openweight title to collection		Double glory for Dedik
Tomasz Nadjuch of Poland continued his amazing year that has seen him already win the European Championships, Polish Championships and Polish Open, as he won the 2nd European Openweight Championships (IKO 1) in Wroclaw Poland in November. In a tournament consisting mainly of former Eastern block countries, there were still a few strong performances from other nations as Spain's Alejandro Navarro and Holland's Rudolph Conquet fought well to make the last eight. The last four saw reigning champion Sylwester Sypien (right) of Poland lose out to fellow countryman Piotr Banasik, while Nadjuch defeated Alexey Drobyazko of Ukraine. In an all Polish final Najduch proved the stronger to add another European title to his collection.		In the 12th Russian Championships (FKR) held in February in Tambov 132 fighters from 32 regions of Russia took part in another thrilling tournament. Reigning IFK European Champion Maxim Dedik from Moscow won the middleweight section for the second time by defeating Nalchik's Hachim Ivanov in the final. Defending Champion Akbolat Appaev; also of Nalchik, finished in third place. Konstantin Donstov defeated the reigning European Champion (IKO 1) Dmitry Startsev in the final of the lightweight section in a section dominated by fighters from Perm who took the top three places with Yuri Chuchkov claiming third. The heavyweight section saw Igor Peplov come out on top against reigning Russian Champion Anzor Shikhabkhov in the final to win the heavyweight title leaving former IFK World, European and three time Russian Champion Jakov Zobnin claiming third place.

Osipov & Kostov retain titles		Top prizes for three continents
	In the prestigious Russian Open held in February in Moscow, 30 countries convened for what is a global event. Russia's Sergey Osipov won the Heavyweight title for the third successive time by defeating Kurbanov in the final and Bulgaria's Emil Kostov defended his Middleweight crown. Zalim Temrokov took the Super Heavyweight title and Maxim Bakushin won the lightweight section for the second time in three years when he defeated Mongolia's Narantungalag in the final.		In the first World Cup (IKO 3) held in Maine, USA, the top prizes were split equally. A lightweight final of the highest quality saw the excellent Spaniard Jonathon Tineo defeat the equally impressive Canadian Diego Beltran in a hugely technical bout. The Middleweight final was and all Japanese affair with Takahiro Suzuki defeating Kazayuki Suzuki for the title. Another Spain versus Canada showdown saw Domingo Quinones defeat Roger Belleveau to win the heavyweight section and Australia's Peter Sampson overcame Spaniard in Valerio Marzaho to win the Super Heavyweight section.

Ichikawa nets top place	Stigter, Desmedt & Tuyt claim European titles	Komiyama tastes success
Masaya Ichikawa of Japan defeated fellow countrymen Masashi Nakagawa to win the 9th Asian Open (IKO 1) held in their home country.	The 12the edition of the European Open Championships held in The Hague Holland, saw Dutchman Rene Stigter win the lightweight by defateing Marius Pawlus of Poland in the final, the impressive Johnny Desmedt of France took the middleweight crown ahead of Holland's Jaap Poel, and Leon Tuyt, also of Holland won the Heavyweight section by defeating Hungary's Peter Vamosi in the final.	In the Asian Open (IKO 2) held in Sri Lanka, Japan kept their strong hold on the tournament as Daisuke Komiyama took first place ahead of Ratiyala of Sri Lanak and Bhattacherjee of India.

Shikhabakhov on top in Siberia	Furlan takes plaudits	Zhebenev defeats Appaev for Eurasian title
The Transarctic Cup, organised by the FKR (affiliated to IFK), was held in December in Siberia and was an open weight tournament with a prize fund of $5000 US dollars. Reigning IFK European Heavyweight Champion Anzor Shikhabakhov took first place ahead of Alexei Kiushkin from Moscow in second with Alexei Gorokhov of Nizhniy Novograd gaining third place.	Marcos Furlan of Brazil was triumphant in the 10th South American Championships held in Concepcion Chile in November in what was a tournament dominated by Brazilian fighters who took the top eight positions.	Thirty two fighters from the former Soviet Union and Great Britain competed in a prestigious middleweight event in Yamburg, Russia organised by the FKR. Yakov Zhebenev took the title ahead of former Russian Champion Akbolat Appaev. Alexey Gorokhov claimed third place with Rishat Ahmetshin taking fourth. The famous Karasyuk (IKO 2) could only manage sixth position on this occasion.

Koldyazhny nets Russian title	Murakaev, Dedik & Filatov complete slam for Russia in London
The second Russian Openweight Championships (IKO 2) saw Vitalius Kolodyazhnyy victorious.	The 27th British Open held at the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre in London once again saw a high level of international competitors enter the event.
Strong performances from Maxim Petrov and Roman Nesterenko saw them claim second and third respectively.		Defending lightweight Champion Rene Stigter of Holland defeat former European Champion (IKO 1) Dmitry Startsev of Russia in the quarter final and another Russian Alexander Afansyev in the semi finals to set up clash with former Russian Champion Marcel Murakaev. Murakaev had previously beaten France's Nordin Tonkin in the semi final. Stigter's two epic battles had taken their toll as injury robbed the crowd of a potential thriller and handed Murakaev the title. Maxim Dedik (left) won the middleweight section after steamrollering through opponents from Holland, Poland, France before facing a real battle against fellow countrymen Igor Titkov in the final in an eight minute battle that had the crowd on their feet.
Zimmerman hat trick
In the 12th American Championships, Canadian Mikhail Zimmerman won his third lightweight title in succession. Valerijus Narmontas from USA took the middleweight crown whilst former middleweight champion Yannick Galipeau of Canada won the heavyweight section with American Patrick Ross completing the set by winning the Super Heavyweights.
Kozlov gets the cup
Mihail Kozlov won the 4th Cup of Moscow (IKO 1) defeating Elnur Eminov in the final with Dmitriy Kudryavtsev claiming third place.
	The heavyweight section was won by the spectacular Yevgeniy Filatov who gained three ippons with rolling ushiro mawashi geri before beating the impressive former lightweight champion Mark Mitchell by decision.

Pukas delights home crowd	Spaniard causes upset in Poland	Noguerra, Lopez & Sanchez win
Artem Pukas delighted the home crowd in Khabarovsk as he won the 9th edition of the Oyama Cup. The excellent Sergey Plekhanov from Birobidzhan was unable to win the title for the third time as he was second with Vyacheslav Nesterov from Vladivostok third.	In the Polish Championship, Spaniard Alejandro Navarro caused an upset by taking the middleweight title. Najduch took his third Super heavyweight title in a row, as Banasik won the heavy, Wiszynski the lightmiddle, Sokolowski the light and Moczydlowski the super lightweight title.	In the IFK Spanish Open held in Lorca. Oscar Nogurra defended his lightweight title with Sergio Lopez repeating the feat in middleweight. The heavyweight section was won by Daniel Sanchez.

Cielsuk triumphant	Kennedy defends Australian title	Da Costa wins in Brazil
In the 3rd Polish Openweight Championship, Karol Ciesluk defeated Krzysztof Habraszka to take the title.	At the Australian Open (IKO 1) held in December, Australian Simon Kennedy retained his title by defeating Sergie Erchov in the final. Third place was occupied by Australia's famous fighter Garry O'Neill and Kapiera Peita of New Zealand.	Brazilian Sergio Da Costa was victorious in the Brazilian Open defeating Wender Silva in the final.

Stigter, Gerritsen & Jarvis get top prizes	Da Silva achieves amazing feat	Imbras on top
The IFK Belgian Open organised by Koen Spiitaels in February saw representatives from eight countries battle for prizes. Rene Stigter of Holland defeated Frances Nordin Tonkin win the lightweight section. Holland's Michael Gerritsen was the champion of the middleweight by defeating the Swiss fighter Sandro Polimeno, whilst Britain's Kenny Jarvis gained first place in what was a rare appearance in the heavyweight category.	At the Dutch Open (IKO 1) Remi Da Silva won the Super Heavyweight category to complete the amazing feat of having won this tournament in all weight categories, having previously won the lightweight section, the middleweight section and the Heavyweight category twice.	Donatos Imbras won the Lithuanian Open weight Championships ahead of Arturas Mazeliauskas, and Andzei Milevskij.

Danes fight off strong challenge	Hofer in good form
Despite strong performances of fighters France, Lithuania, and Sweden, Denmark's fighters won all three categories at the Danish Open. Kim Holm won his first title in the lightweight section, Dennis Truelsen completed a hat trick of middleweight crowns and Benno Rasmussen won his third Heavyweight title.	The IFK Swiss Open saw IFK European Championship runner up and 1999 Swiss Champion Stefan Hofer regain the middleweight title after defeating defending champion Mario Pavlovic in the final. Roland Mueller won the lightweight section with Rerzhaku Nazmi winning the heavyweights.