Kyokushin Headlines - 2003

Kiyama wins World title

Suzuki wins World Tournament
Hitoshi Kiyama of Japan won the 8th World Tournament (IKO 1) after defeating Sergey Plekhanov of Russia in a controversial final that was awarded to Kiyama after only one round.In the semi final Kiyama had beaten the devastating Brazilian Ewerton Teixiera after the first extension in a match that should have continued and Plekhanov had beaten a battle weary Glaube Feitosa who appeared to struggle with injuries he had picked from his previous matches to which Plekhanov took full advantage of. Home fighter and pre event favourite Kunihiro Suzuki has won the 8th World Tournament (IKO 2) after defeating Yuichiro Osaka in the final. Having won the previous three All Japan Tournaments Suzuki was the favourite to land the crown prior the tournament. The semi final saw Suzuki defeat Takayuki Tsukakoshi after 2 hard extensions Osaka beat former European middleweight Champion Bulgarian Valeri Dimitrov by ippon in the other semi final after Dimitrov pulled up injured.
In the quarter final Kiyama was extremely lucky to get the decision after one round against the awesome Russian Lechi Kurbanov and Plekhanov defeated the strong Yashuhiko Kimura on boards at the same stage whilst Teixeira easily overcame Japan's Hiroyuki Kidachi by decision. The remaining quarter final was an extremely close fight as Feitosa defeated the superb Russian Sergey Osipov, who had been fighting with a broken foot since his second fight on day two, after the first extension.Other notable fighters were the Bulgarian Emil Kostov who made it to the last 16 but lost to Plekhanov, Masafumi Tagahara who as a lightweight reached this round also along with Armenia's Artur Oganasian who nearly knocked out Kiyama in the last 16 before being dropped with a chudan mawashi geri. Surprise of the event saw Argentinean green belt Raul Zunino knock out two Japanese fighters with rolling axe kicks before being dropped by Teixiera on the last day.

Dimitrov had previously shocked the crowd by beating one of the favourites in former World Champion Norichika Tsukamoto in the quarter finals with punches that earned him two wazaris. Germany's Muzaffer Bacak was again superb on the world stage as he finished sixth before losing to Suzuki in a close fight in the quarter finals. Having previously defeated Russia's Denis Grigoriev in the last 16, Osaka then beat the very strong Hungarian Daniel Torok in the quarter finals in a very close fight between too large fighters. Tsukakoshi beat Spaniard Francisco Jose Carpena, the Spaniard had also caused a shock as he beat former All Japan runner up Tadashi Ishiahara on weight in the last 32. This event saw European fighters have their best ever World Tournament that included four fighters the top eight places.

   Teixeira's revenge as Brazilian completes Hat trick
The strongest ever field at the Americas Cup gathered top fighters from North and South America, Europe, Russia and Oceania.		     Afanasyev, Gorokhov and Dedik win Russian titles
The 13th Russian Championships held in Samara was an event organised to tie with the 30 year celebration of Kyokushin in Russia.

There was disappointment with the withdrawal of two of the pre event favourites in Alexander Pichkunov withdraw, and Australian legend Garry O'Neill. This enable Frances Rodrigues to progress and Rodrigues was then defeated in the last eight by Russian Alexander Voynich who finished third. America's Keiji Ouchi reached the quarter finals for the fourth time as he claimed sixth place and Brazil's Eduardo Tanaka and Ivan Alyanchikov of Russia made up the last eight. Poland's Tomasz Najduch again had a successful trip to New York as he reached the semi finals before losing to defending champion Ewerton Teixeira of Brazil. In a repeat of last years International Open final in Paris, Teixeira met the ever impressive Russian Sergey Osipov; who had one that fight by ippon, in the final.

The lightweight section was won by Perm's Alexander Afanasyev who defeated Yuri Chuchkov in the final with rising star and the ver improving Roman Uzunyan of St. Petersburg third and Konstantin Balandin of Moscow in fourth. The middleweight section saw the iron like Alexei Gorokhov of Nizhny Novograd win the title for the second time in four years by defeating Ekaterinburg's Vladimir Tiunov in the final with Andrey Donov of Perm in third and Andrey Noskov of Nizhny Urengory in fourth. The heavyweight section saw some surprises as three time IKO 1 Russian super heavyweight champion Mikhail Kozlov was defeated in the first round and reigning IFK World, European, and Russian middleweight champion Maxim Dedik (left); who was fighting for the first time in this weight category; went on to win the title as he defeated reigning Moscow Open Champion Sergey Mikhailin in the final with Alexei Shchezhin of Syrzan in third place. Dedik became only the second fighter to achieve this feat after Sergey Osipov in 1998 and 1999.
After two rounds the fight was even and there was no difference in either weight or boards broken. In the second and final extension the Brazilian did enough to get three flags to one and win the event for the third time in a row an avenge his defeat in Paris.
Yakovchenko, Sypien, Habraszka & Dekovic win Euro titles
The European Championships (IKO 1) held in Uzhograd, Ukraine saw the top honours spread between three countries but strong performances from many others in preparation for the 8th World Tournament.		               Lithuanian's strong on Home soil
The European Championships (IKO 2) held in Kaunas, Lithuania heralded much success for the home squad as they were rewarded with a number of podium positions. 
Home favourite Semen Yakovchenko improve on last years second place as he beat compatriot Yuri Lavrinenko in the final to take the lightweight crown, with Armenia's Karen Giadukin and Bulgaria's Georgi Vasilev in third. Sylwester Sypien won his second middleweight title in three years by defeating Romania's Nicolae Stoian in the final and Spain's Javier Lezkano gaining third for the second time in a row along with defending Lightweight champion Lucian Gogonel of Romania. Poland were again successful as Polish Champion Krystof Habraszka defeated the very strong Spaniard Pablo Estensoro to win the heavyweight section with Hungary's Lorant Paksi in joint third. Jan Sokup won the Czech Republic's first ever medallist at a major competition as he was the other third placed fighter at heavyweight. Seasoned fighter Sveto Dekovic of Serbia won the Super Heavyweight title defeating Marek Kosowski of Poland in the final with Armenia's Artur Oganasian and Poland's Karol Ciesluk claiming third.

In the lightweight category home fighters Vytautas Kalvatis and Vytautas Viscius shared third place as Dimitar Popov defeated Dimitar Karaliev to defend his European title in an what was all Bulgarian final. Darius Gudauskas delighted home fans as he defeated Georgia's Emzari Nikasatdze in the Heavyweight final with Dmitry Zhavoronkov of Ukraine and Bulgaria's Dimitar Trampov in third place. There was further joy for Lithuania and te home crowd as Donatas Imbras won the super Heavyweight category by defeating the impressive Daniel Torok of Hungary who finished second and Denmark's Benno Rasmussen and another Lithuanian; Arturas Mazeliauskas were in third. The middleweight final pitted former champion Muzaffer Bacak (right) of Germany against defending Champion Valeri Dmitrov of Bulgaria. The German who was champion in 1997 eventually claimed the title for the second time. Romania's Marius Ilas and Lithuania's Donatas Kievinas were third.

       Shiojima defends title as Kondo makes it two

    Komiyama, Mori & Tsukakoshi claim maiden titles

The 20th All Japan Weight Category Championships (IKO 1) was the last event that would be used to choose fighters for the 8th World Tournament later in the year. Osamu Shiojima defeated his lightweight title by defeating Atsushi Ono in the final and Takahiro Fukuda in third and Hiroyuki Owatari fourth. Toshihiro Kanamori won his first title as he beat Hisashi Noka in the middleweight section with American fighter Joji Hibino third and defending champion Shin Ito. In the heavyweight section Masato Ikeda defeated former champion Yoshinori Ikeda in the final to win the event with defending champion Naoji Mikoshiba fourth and Masataka Ino third. The Super Heavyweight section saw Hirokazu Kondo win his second title in four years with Shinji Adachi third and Masaki Takao fourth. In the 20th All Japan Weight Championships (IKO 2) held in Osaka, Daisuke Komiyama defeated veteran and five time former champion Kensaku Yamamoto to take the lightweight title. The veteran and two time former middleweight champion Hiroyuki Miake claimed third place and Yoshihiro Umemoto fourth. Kenta Mori (left) won the middleweight crown ahead of Taishi Watanabe in second and Tsuyoshi Takezawa getting on the podium for the third successive year by finishing in third and Seigou Tsuru fourth. The heavyweight section saw a repeat of the 2001 final as Takayuki Tsukakoshi met Yuichiro Osaka with the result this time in favor of Tsukakoshi who took his first title, with defending Champion Naohiro Nomoto in third place and Hideaki Koizimi fourth. All finalists will represent Japan at the 8th World Tournament in Japan in October.

Fernandez lands European title

Rodrigues Hungary for European title

Britain's Miguel Fernandez (below left) won the heavyweight title at the European Championships (IKO 3) in Antwerp, Belgium. In a marathon final Fernandez defeated Russia's Igor Struikhin in a match that spanned four rounds. Fernandez previously had beaten Spain's Domingo Quinones, who finished third, in the semi final. Former champion Peter Vamosi finished fourth after losing to Quinones. The lightweight section was won by the lively Japanese fighter Akihiro Shimizu (far right) after he defeated Kazakhstan's Kanat Rahimov in a very close final. Britain's Mark Goodwin, who was in excellent form through the competition, came third after losing on a dubious decision to Shimizu in the semi's. Goodwin went on  easily defeated Poland's Krzysztof Loboda in the third place fight off leaving the Pole fourth. The middleweight title also went to Japan as the strong Takeshi Miyagi (above centre) defeated Swiss fighter Alessandro Polimeno in the final with Hungary's Robert Kiss in third and Russia's Sergey Khalin fourth.

France's Alexandre Rodrigues won the 3rd edition of the European Openweight Championships (IKO 1).  The event was held in held in Baja, Hungary for the first time culminated in Rodrigues defeating the strong Bulgarian Valentin Krastev by decision in the final. The Frenchman had previously knocked out Poland's Piotr Banasik with Jodan mawashi geri in the semi final. The two previous editions have both been won by Polish fighters but after Krastev beat  Poland's Krzysztof Habraszka in a marathon semi final match the title would go to a new country. Habraszka had defeated fellow countrymen and reigning champion Thomasz Najduch in the quarter finals. The remainder of the top eight was made up of Romania's Nicolae Stoian, Poland's Michal Krzak and home fighter Adam Szolnoki.

                  Da Costa wins South American Title
Sergio Da Costa defeated fellow Brazilian Diogo de Souza Silva in the final to win the South American Championships that was staged in Bolvia in August. Argentina Emmanuel Ruarte was third with Wagner Xavier fourth as Brazil kept up their usual domination in this event. There was some success for home fighters as Walter Pacheco Chavarria and José Luis Pacheco made it to the last eight along with Sebastian Bauza of Argentina and Roberto Mello of Brazil.                 

          Ito, Fukui, Yamamoto and Fourment on top in Montreal
March saw the third edition of the North American Weight Championship (IKO 1) held in Montreal, Canada. Takehiro Ito from New York won the lightweight section defeating Costa Rica's Julio De Valle in the final, Japan's Yuki Fukui won the middleweight section by defeating another fighter from the US in Keiji Ouchi. The heavyweight title also went to Japan with Masaki Yamamoto defeating former champion Christian Ouellet of Canada, and France's Fabrice Fourment was on top in the Super heavyweight section after beating Japan's Kentaro Aso into second place.

               Moulden & Stringer win World Kata titles
The 2nd IFK World Kata Championships held in Szczyrk, Poland saw Britain's Darren Stringer and Emma Moulden become win the male and female categories respectively with Russia claiming the team prize. Stringer won the title with the final Kata of the day to score the highest mark ahead of Sergey Makarov of Russia in second, defending Sunil Tailor of Great Britain in third and Russia's Andrey Khimichenko fourth. Moulden won the female category by beating Julia Tseytlina of Russia into second, sister Lyndsay Moulden third and Julie Nadeau of Canada fourth. The closest section of the day saw Russia pip the British team to the title by 0.1 of a mark with Switzerland in third, host Poland in fourth and Canada, Germany, Norway and South Africa making up the final eight.
                      Dutch delight in The Hague 
At the 13th European Open Championships, held in The Hague Holland Sennema took the lightweight title defeating Russia's Erokhin in the final after defending champion and favourite Stigter had been knocked out previously with an illegal technique that made him unable to continue and restricted him to third place. Russian fighter Solovyev beat Poland's Pawlus for the middleweight crown with Iran's Mohammdi collecting third and Dutchman Gibbs defeated another Russian fighter Kiushkin to take the heavyweight title.

                      Awesome Gorokhov wins British Open
Reigning Russian middleweight champion Alexei Gorokhov added the British Open title to his collection as he destroyed all of his opponents in two minutes leading up to the final where he beat compatriot Andrey Donov to prove his class.
The remaining podium positions in the middleweight category went to two time former champion Kenny Jarvis who was comprehensively beaten by Gorokhov in two minutes in the semi final and Holland's Jacob Groenhof who had lost to Donov on weight in the after defeating the very strong Norway's Erik Grindheim on boards in the quarter finals. Vladimir Kostenko of Russia won the lightweight crown after and eight minute battle in the final with the superb Mark Goodwin of Wales in what was the fight of the day. France's Nordine Tonkin was on the podium once more as he collected third place along with Welshman Lee Wells who was on top in his semi final match against Kostenko before being caught with a jodan mawashi geri. Russian fighters completed a hat trick as the extremely powerful Timofei Tsyganov powered his way to the title after he dropped Britain's Miguel Fernandez in the final to win the heavyweight section. Britain's Paul Travers and the excellent Russian Alexei Shchezhin third were third

                            Peplov wins in Krasnodar
The second South Russian Open (FKKR-IKO 1) held in Krasnodar saw fighters from over twenty regions of Russia compete in a tournament of a very high standard. The event was held in two weight categories and the +75kg saw the 2002 & 2001 Russian Champions (FKR-IFK) meet in the final as Igor Peplov defeated Anzor Shikhabakhov by tameshiwari. The -75kg section saw one of the favourites go out in the quarter finals when Marcel Murakaev was defeated but the title still went to Perm as Khasyrov defeated Akbolat Appaev in the final to win the title.

                                   Peplov on top in Vorkuta
The 2nd Transarctic International Tournament (FKR-IFK) was held in Vorkuta, Russia. This openweight event was won by reigning IFK World Heavyweight Champion Igor Peplov who defeated reigning Russian Heavyweight Champion (FKR-IFK) and IFK World Middleweight Champion and Maxim Dedik in the final. Roman Mukhutdinov of Nizhny Novograd repeated his feat of last year as he again reached the last four and this year went one place better as he finished third with Sergey Uvitskiy of Perm calining the fouth place prize.
         Four for Mikhailin as Balandin completes the hat trick
In the 13th edition of the Moscow Open Konstantin Balandin collected his third successive lightweight title as he beat Roman Uzunyan of St. Petersburg in the final with Farkhad Kasymov in third. Sergey Mihailin won the heavyweight category for the fourth time by defeating Alexei Kiuskin and another St. Petersburg fighter in Alexander Erokhin beat defending champion Rishat Ahmetshin in the final of middleweight section.		                                             Top names victorious
In the 30th Polish Championships held in March, familiar names were once again on the podium. Sylwester Sypien won the middleweight title for the fourth time and Tomasz Najduch claimed the Super Heavyweight title for what was his seventh Polish title at various weights. The other categories saw Habrazka win the Heavweight section, Dziedzic the light middle, Marcinkowski the light and Moczydłowski the super lightweight section to make up the other prize winners and give the fighters a spot in the team for the upcoming European Championships in the Ukraine. 

Marriott returns in style

Rasmussen wins again

The British Regional Tournament saw a winning return to competition after eleven years of former British Open Champion Trevor Marriott (right in photo) who won the heavyweight title by defeating Miguel Fernandez in a close final to roll back the glory years. The middleweight section saw Ireland's Lee O'Neill edge out Michael Dvorak (left in photo) by a split decision as both fighters were awarded two flags each after enthralling semi final.

Bennno Rasmussen won the Heavyweight section for the third time in a row at the Danish Open and fourth in total by defeating former champion Brian Jakobsen in the final with Holland's Mark Potma in third and Swede Frederick Nilsson. Sweden's Jimmie Collin won the middleweight crown as he defeated Frenchman Sebastien Dhorme in the final with Danes Kim Paulsen and Martin Henriksen claiming third. Russia's Vasiliy Khudiakov improved on his second place from two years ago by defeating defending champion Kim Holm in the final to win the lightweight section. Last years runner up Ole Mejlshede of Denmark and Russia's Daud Nakastkhoyev in third.

Three in a row for Kennedy

O'Neill then defeated Poland's Tomek Bandura in the final in another match that went to the distance to take the title.  Mark Goodwin of Wales won the lightweight category with a walkover in the final after Darren Stringer was injured in his semi final win over defending champion Kenny Mortin. Australia's Simon Kennedy won the Australian Open for the third time successive time as he defeated the strong New Zealander Warren Gabb in the final. Third place went to Kohara Takumi of Japan.

              Honours shared in Poland
The IFK Polish Open held in March, saw the top prizes split between three countries. Poland's Dankovski won the lightweight category, Alexei Czerbina of Belarus the middleweight section, and former Russian Middleweight Champion Konstantin Bely from Russia, fighting in his first tournament since 1997, claimed the Heavyweight title.

                Carpena does it again
In the Spanish Open (IKO 2), Jonathon Tineo won the lightweight title with Leonardo Adria beating Alejandro Navarro; who had beaten the impressive Sergio Lopez in the semi finals, for the middleweight crown and Francisco Jose Carpena won the Heavyweight title in what is his eighth Spanish title.

           Navarro successful
The Spanish Open (IKO 3), held in a open weight format this year, saw  Alejandro Navarro defeat Valerio Marzano in the final to continue his  successful year. Fares Mohammad  and Ivan Gimeno were third and fourth respectively

                Galipeau collects Gold
Yanick Galipeau of IFK Canada won the middle weight section of 6th Edition of Mas Oyama's Gold Cup held in Montreal in March by defeating IFK USA fighter Scott Haug in the final. Josue Hoch of Costa Rica was victorious in the Lightweights and Paul Gray of Canada took the heavyweight title.

             Monasso wins inaugural event
In the Dutch Openweight Championship (IKO 1), heavyweight fighter Dominique Monasso claimed first prize ahead of Jurgen Ven den Heuvel in second and Dennis De Vette in third place.

        Kasatanov triumphant
In the Ukrainian Openweight Championships (IKO 2), Olexiy Kasatanov won the title after defeating former Ukrainian heavyweight Champion Sergey Voytenko in the final.
                 Russo in good form
Frank Russo gained first place in the Australian Open weight Championships (IKO 2) that was used for selection for the World Tournament later in the year. In the final he defeated Daniel Trifu with Sam Gilbert in third with all three of these fighters being selected for the Australian Team. Fourth place fighter Richard Cameleri will be reserve for the World Tournament. 		                Du Pree makes it three
Vincent Du Pree claimed his third Dutch Open (IKO 1) lightweight title defeating Juergen Ven Den Heuvel who appeared in his third consecutive final. Haitze Idzenga won the middleweights defeating Belgian Michael Biskos, Eduard Wallmen of Germany defeated Spaniard Pablo Estensoro in a marathon battle for the Heavyweight title, and Dominic Monasso defeated Rudolf Conquet for the Super Heavyweight crown.		         Fourment defends title
France's Fabrice Fourment defended his heavyweight title at the French Open (IKO 1), with Christophe Leroy winning the lightweight section and Gerold Serguis successful in the middleweight section for the fourth time in his career.
          Dericke, Gejadze & Stoppa win
At the French Open (IKO 2) held in March, France's David Dericke claimed the lightweight title, Georgian David Gejadze the middleweight and Italy's Andrea Stoppa the Heavyweight title.		               Honours split in Belgium
The Belgian Open (IKO 3) saw IFK fighters Robert Proost of Belgium prevail in the lightweight category and Peter Vermaire of Holland in the middleweight. The heavyweight category was won by the superb Mustapha Okusz of France.		       Champions defend titles
The third Czech Republic Championships saw Radovan Bosko; lightweight, Tomas Kassl; middleweight and Jan Senohrábek; heavyweight all defend their titles.

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