Kyokushin Headlines - 2008

 NEW King Anzor crowned World Champion NEW

NEW Awesome Navarro continues European dominance NEW
The awesome Anzor Shikhabakhov of Russia was finally crowned World Champion as he took the main prize at the World Tournament (IKO 3) in Iseaki City, Japan. As in previous years Russia and Iran were the countries to fear with Russia's Rasim Samedov along with Iran's Saeid Sefari battling to the top eight with again a strong showing from East Europe with Gia Gvenetadze of Georgia and Laszlo Hacsko of Hungary took seventh and eight respectively. The last four saw paired the very strong Ukrainian Sergey Doronin who got caught with a punch for a wazari against the iron like Issa Parvari of Iran. In the other semi final Shikhabakhov skilfully evaded the large stalking Iran's Sajad Heidari to pick of his opponent and eventually earn a decision. In the final the roles were in reverse as Shikhabkhov hunted down the battle worn Parvari and after an extension the emotional Russian was deservedly crowned champion.

PHOTO COMING SOON

 Alejandro Navarro's European dominance continued as he was crowned European Openweight (IKO 1) champion for the third successive year. Old enemy Lucien Gogonel was again runner up and Navarro defeated the young Bulgarian Petar Martinov in a hard semi final and Navarro's Spanish compatriot Pablo Estensoro made up the last four. Poland's Michal Krzak reached the last eight for the third year running along with former runner up and current European middleweight champion Nicolae Stoian. Dutchman Victor Teixeira continued is best ever year as he reached the last eight for the first time and Pole Marcin Miller made up the remaining top eight place. The star of the day was without doubt Navarro who eclipsed Poland's Krysztof Habraszka two titles by taking his third crown. Navarro will head to Japan next year for the 4th World Weight category tournament as one of the pre event favourites.

Yamada shocks as big guns are slain

Taniguchi halts Damyanov steamroller
Kazuhito Yamada (below-left) caused a shock at the 40th All Japan Tournament (WKO / IKO 2) by defeating some of the heavier fighters as the current middleweight champion added the openweight title to his collection. Zahary Damyanov continued his amazing year by so nearly becoming the first non Japanese winner of the All Japan Tournament (IKO 1) after reaching the final in hugely impressive fashion before yielding to Makoto Taniguchi who took the hardest route to the title after taking on two Russians.
Early shocks saw a strangely muted Tsukamoto go out on weight in the last sixteen. Former World Tournament runner up Yuichiro Osaka returned to competition for the first time in five years and made it all the way to the final and form World Champion Kunihiro Suzuki finish third and another veteran Kou Tanigawa again reached the last four. In the last eight for the first time was middleweight Kazufumi Shimamoto; whose brother Yuji finished in the last sixteen, another middleweight in Ryutaro Hirayama who reached this stage for the second time plus the current All Japan lightweight Champion Syohei Yamano. The only fighter to buck this trend was 100kg plus and former runner up Shinji Sakamoto. Damyanov had been in awesome form and earned an ippon in the quarter final for a jodan hiza geri against Tatsuya Murata and a wazari for the same technique against former champion Kentaro Tanaka to shock the crowd. The brutal Russian Igor Titkov ipponed Yuzo Suzuki with a knee of his own to reach the last eight where he lost on decision to the champion elect Taniguchi. Kidachi also succumbed to Taniguchi after again reaching the last four having previously beaten Makoto Akaishi in a hard quarter final. The tournament was again marred by debatable judging that saw Russian Nurmamed Mamedov lose for a genten ichi for a face punch and the same for the Russia "Raging Bull" Andrey Stepin as the Japanese did their best to keep the title in home hands.

Damyanov ends Brazilian domination

Savelyev & Hachatryan complete historic European double
Bulgaria's Zahary Damyanov (right) ended Brazilian domination for the Americas Cup (IKO 1) becoming the first non Brazilian to win the title for ten years and the first European winner of the prestigious event. In the final Damyanov took on former champion Sergio Da Costa of Brazil, and outclassed a wooden looking Da Costa to take a much deserved win. Brazilians made up the other places in the top four with the excellent Eduardo Tanaka third and Anderson Da Silva fourth. Da Silva once more advanced through to the semi finals but this time heavily injured after a gruelling war of attrition against Spain's European heavyweight champion Alejandro Navarro that saw both fighters land many heavy blows before the more sprightly Navarro lost by tameshiwari. Slawomir Was again reached the last eight but the board breaking king came unstuck when he broke his hand during the tameshiwari and had to withdraw. The 2nd IFKK European Championships was held in Moscow, Russia and home fighters and in particular visiting federation fighters from the IFK dominated the event. In the middleweight section, Arsen Hachatryan (right) added the IFKK title to his IFK European title from last year when he defeated reigning title Shamsudin Abdurashidov who was fortunate to be in the final. In the semi final Abdurashidov was bizarrely and unfairly awarded the decision after IFK Russian Champion Alexander Erokhin celebrated receiving the flags and what he thought was the fight until he was disqualified for his actions, a sad end to an excellent tournament for Erokhin. The remaining fighter in the last four was the fast improving Alexei Mezhevstov who was again from the IFK. Reigning IFK Russian Champion Dmitry Savelyev matched Hachatryan's achievement of IFKK & IFK European title when he took the heavyweight section after using his knees to destructive effect against Magomed Mitsaev in the final. The legend that is Sergey Osipov who is looking so what jaded these days finished third with the unfortunate Alexei Gorokhov, who but had looked in awesome form before losing on weight in the semi final to Mitsaev, taking fourth in a repeat of the IFK Russian heavyweights.
The final two fighters in the last eight showed the strong European contingent with Spaniard Pablo Estensoro and Poland's Kryzystof Habraszka who reached the last eight for the fourth consecutive year. Timur Gatashev improved from two years ago as he took the super heavyweight title against Arthur Tilov, with Sergey Melyuk third and Alexander Ibragimov fourth. The lightweight section saw a surprise winner with Khizirkhazhi Khasuev taking the title after beating Astemir Beslaneev in the final.

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 downed with a low kick for 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.