NEW......... Kyokushin Headlines - 2008 ..........NEW

Bitkash halts St. Petersburg clean sweep

Navarro finally gets his prize on home soil
The 18th Russian Championships (FKR) took place in Cheboksari with fighters from St. Petersburg having a major impact on the tournament. In the lightweight section the two favourites for the event met in the final as IFK World and European Champion Roman Uzunyan was in his fourth final, chasing his second title as he took on former champion Emil Bitkash of Nalchik in a repeat of last years IFK European Championships final. This match as always very close went the distance and as the fight went on Bitkash's extra size and strength appeared to be paying off, howver Uzunyan kept with him in a gruelling match but appeared to tire and this saw Bitkash eventually get a very tight decision to win his second title. Former champion Lukjanov of Ekaterniburg and Cherepanov again reached the podium took third and fourth place. The European Championships (IKO 1) held in Vitoria, Spain saw two fighters finally win the titles at there weight after coming close on a number of occasions. The awesome Alejandro Navarro (below) of Spain who was on a roll following his superb performance at the World Tournament last year after old foe Gogonel of Romania was unable to compete in the heavyweight final took the title. There was more success for Spain with Estensoro sharing third with Poland's Sieradzki.
The middleweight section was as always a keenly contested as ever and it once again came down to the to top FKR fighters as Russian & European Champion Arsen Hachatryan of Kemerovo squared off against St. Petersburg Alexander Erokhin for the third time in the final of this event. Once again it was a titanic duel that went the full four rounds with little to choose between them, Erokhin however seemed to benefit from the extra strength that a few extra kilos brought and this edged him the decision and earned him his second Russian middleweight title. The fast improving Alexey Mezhevtsov of Moscow and ever durable Vladimir Tiunov of Ekaterinburg took third and fourth place respectively.

After five podium places spanning the last decade Romania's Nicolae Stoian finally won the middleweight section after a hard fought final against the young Russian Nikita Tomchuk. Krzak of Poland and Bulgaria's Petrov, who had moved up a category took third place in what was a very close section. The excellent Piotr Moczydlowski of Poland was competing in his fifth consecutive lightweight final and convincingly took the title against the strong Teixieria of Holland. Another good performance from a young Russian Mikhailov earned him third with Mihalache of Romania in third.
The heavyweight section saw three time former middleweight champion Alexei Gorokhov bulk up 90kg to fight at heavyweight, he looked very strong as he over came a number of opponents before ironically losing on weight to former IKO 1 and IFFK Russian heavyweight Champion Magomed Mitsaev in the semi final. No such problems for the now dominant Dmitriy Savelyev of St. Petersburg who advanced to the final with his hardest fight against Arthur Tilov of Nalchik in the semi finals, Savelyev had to much for Mitsaev who fought gallantly but Savelyev deservedly regained his title. As World Tournament runner up Jan Sokup was absent, double heavyweight champion Habraszka of Poland, moved up a weight to the super heavyweight section. He reached the final and met the excellent young Bulgarian Petar Martinov, who was in his third final, there was no second title for the Bulgarian who repeated his second place of a year ago as Habraska edged the decision.

Dimitrov a class apart but Hungarians dominate

Yamada's dominance continues
The Shinkyokushin European Championships (IKO 2) was a subdued affair that failed to ignite despite some strong performances from a number of fighters. The 24th All Japan Weight Tournament (IKO 2) was the first major event held in Japan since the last World Tournament.
Sweden's Jimmie Collin finally reached the podium as he took third place after defeating former champion Ilas or Romania in a hard fought quarter final. Hungarian middleweights continued the amazing run of the year that saw victories in France and Denmark to gain a first and second place finish with Gergo Magna defeating compatriot Sandor Bak. Five time lightweight champion Dimitar Popov moved up a weight and gained a respectable third place. Hungary's Gabor Rosza who is now without doubt one of the worlds top lightweights retained his lightweight title with his usual aggressive pressing style. The super heavyweight witnessed Lithuania's Lukas Kubilius (right) take the title against Georgia's Eduard Janoashvili with Dane Jakobssen and arguably the most exciting fighter in the section in Bulgaria's Terziev shared third. A result that was never in doubt was the heavyweight section as kyokushin superstar Valeri Dimitrov again was too strong Lithuanias finest with Pavilionis second and Gudauskas sharing third with Spain's Etxebarria. A number of the well known fighters participated to put behind the disappointment from this event, two fighters who both lost in the last 32 in October met in the final of the heavyweight section as Naohiro Nomoto beat Taishi Watanabe in a hard final. Kazuhito Yamada kept up his dominance in this event as with his strong low kicks and chudan mawashi geris conquered all to win his fourth straight title. This section was very interesting as Kazufumi Shimamoto took second place with younger brother Yuji Shimamoto taking third. The lightweight category saw a new winner with Syouhei Yamano defeating Hirokazu Iwahara in the final. The top two in each category were selected to represent Japan at the 4th World Cup in St. Petersburg Russia in 2009.

More victory for Russia in Japan

Home fighters pushed to the limit in Yamburg
The 24th All Japan Weight Tournament (IKO 1) heralded more victory for Russians in an event that has seen huge success in recent years. An all Russian final saw Roman Semchenko defeat Nikolai Krush to take the lightweight title and the excellent Nurmad Mamedov was the star fighter in his section but home judging helped Yoshitatsu Beppu defeat the Russian in the heavyweight final. In the middleweight section the excellent Yuzo Suzuki was crowned champion after defeating Tomohiko Matsuoka with Yuuki Fukui again reaching the podium. Foreign success was not just tasted by the Russians as Bulgaria's Zahary Damyanov; who defeated two time all Japan Yoshiaki Uchida in the World Tournament last year proved to be a major threat in the super heavyweight section as he went all the way to the final before being defeated by Makoto Akaishi who was competing in his third successive final and finally too his first title. A strong foreign contingent travelled to Yamburg for the IFK Russian Open. In the lightweight section Britain's Darren Stringer (left) looked in excellent form as he marched to the semi finals where after a fight in which he as unlucky not to win was edged out on boards against Russia's Yevgeniy Solomennikov who had beaten fighters from Belgium and Turkmenistan. The final was a walkover as reigning champion Afanasyev who had overcame strong fighters from Belarus, Bulgaria and then compatriot Kostenko withdrew from the final injured. Stringer fought superbly in the third place fight off to take the decision against the strong Kostenko. Pavlov took the heavyweight section after defeating Ibragimov in the final with Switzerland's Hofer, who had beaten the giant Zhidko of Belarus, taking third. Surprises in the middleweight sections saw two time champion Noskov defeated along with Britain's Odunakan. A strong performance from another Briton Wai Cheung saw him take third place but this was not enough to stop Russia's Andrey Borisov taking the title over Fanil Mazhitov.