World Tournament

1st World Cup - 1997

In the opening round of the men's lightweight Antal Bencze (Europe - Hungary), met Merdi Farmad (Asia - Iran) with the Hungarian winning comfortably. Sandor Dorgov (Europe - Hungary) met Abram Khehla Jele (Africa) and in an uneventful fight Khehla Jele took the decision after one round the first round. Bencze then came up against Hiroyuki Mogi (Japan) After an excellent first round with no decision, the crowd awaited the second installment of this battle. Bence then stepped up the tempo with a series of solid punches and this continual pressing earned him the decision at the end of the extension. Viktor Dergausov (Russia) won his second round with two wazari's and was next up to meet Bencze in the semi finals. Dergausov came out with all guns blazing and Bencze did well to keep his opponent at bay. With another extension expected it was a surprise to all when the decision was awarded to the Russian. The other semi final saw the very strong Kou Tanigawa defeat Narumi Okito by decision. Bencze claimed third place due to Okito's injuries preventing him from fighting. The final saw Kou Tanigawa Kou take on Viktor Dergausov. The Japanese fighters powerful combinations kept moving his Russian opponent back who did well to avoid being pushed off the tatami. Dergausov's counter attacks and determination were not enough to force an extension as Tanagawa was just too strong an deservedly took the title.
n the Middleweight section Muzaffer Bacak (Europe - Germany) met Nazir Aftab Nagi (Asia - Pakistan). Bacak, the current European Champion took the fight by decision after one round. Mathias Halberg (Europe - Denmark) fought Kentoku Saeki (Japan) with the Dane putting up a good fight against his opponent and he caught him with some strong mae geri's and Hiza geri's but Saeki always looked the stronger an advanced to the nest round. Tadashi Ishihara (Japan) landed a precise hiza geri against Anthony Maduro (Australia) which stunned Maduro, despite fighting hard to come back on his feet both the fight was already over. Bacak then faced Maxim Petrov (Russia), in a close fight were neither fighter took an chances Bacak eventually took the fight after an extension after showing more agression than at the beginning of the fight. The first Middleweight semi-final saw Shingenori Sakamoto (Japan) and Muzaffer Bacak. Both fighters were well aware of the others capabilities and stayed a t distance. The first round was Hikiwake so another two minutes started. After another tense extension, there was nothing to seperate the two fighters so another extension was called. This extension again ended in a draw and Bacak advanced via tameshwari. The other Semi-final was between Kentoku Saeki and Tadashi Ishihara. In a very hard fight Saeki eventually showed some injuries on his right leg Ishihara took full advnatage of this. Ishihara took the fight by decision 5 to 0. In the battle for third place Saeki stepped up the pressure in the second extension and took the decision. The final could not be more exciting it matched the European Middleweight Champion Muzaffer Bacak against the All Japan Middleweight Champion Tadashi Ishihara. Ishihara was keen to put pressure on Bacak from the start who started cautiously and the German avoid his opponents attacks well. In the extension Ishihara managed to get close to his opponent and wore him down to eventually take the decision.
Heavyweight Winners	In the heavyweight section Tomas Turcinskas (Europe - Lithuania) began well defaeting Gerado Rojas (South America - Uruguay) with a shita-tsuki for ippon and Burghard Gartner (Europe - Germany) defeated Guy Salter (North America - Canada). The crowd's excitmnet reached fever pitch as Norichika Tsukamoto (Japan) then defeated Alexey Kiushkin (Russia). The next round saw Turcinskas versus Frank Russo (Australasia - Australia). Turcinskas started this fight more aggressively than his first fight, but the experienced Russo was not deterred by the onslaught and surprised his opponent with a shita tsuki that earned him a wazari. Turcinkas never came back into the after this and Russo took the his place in the semi finals. The fight between Gartner and Yuichiro Osaka (Japan) showed the importance of tactics as the German kept his larger opponent at distance. Osaka had the chance to take the fight to Gartner but Osaka did not take advantage of the German slowing down and appeared to struggle himself. At the end of the round Gartner fought back and was the stronger fighter. In the extension Gartner continued this momentum and showed most power and stamina and won on decision. In his second fight Tsukamoto met the experienced Mladen Pekic (Australia) . Pekic put up an excellent fight and took the fight to Tsuakmoto at times but Tsukamoto's strength and technique proved decisive as he deservedly claimed the decsion.
The first Semi-final was between Toru Okamoto (Japan) and Australia's Frank Russo. Okamoto forced Russo out of the fighting arena a few times with his sheer strength and devastating kicks. Okamoto was always in control of the fight gained a wazari for shita-tsuki that gave him the victory at the end of the round. The next Semi-final was the Burghard Gartner and Norchika Tsukamoto. Both fighters began the fight very loosely with neither giving much away and the first round ended in a draw. The second round was much the same with both fighters looking for the other to make a mistake and again a draw was given. Tsukamoto put on more pressure in the first extension but the two flags were not enough and another extension was called. The second extension ended in the same manner with Tskuamoto unable to dispatch his opponent. With no significant difference on the scales Tsukamoto went through via tameshiwari. Russo was unable to fight in the 3rd place fight off and Gartner was thus awarded third place. In the final Tsukamoto stared very relaxed, Okamoto on the other hand stalked his opponent and through some very strong techniques to which Tsukamoto had to avoid with good movement. The first round ended a draw and in the next round Okamoto again looked dangerous with extremely powerful combinations, at the end of the round Tsukamoto fought back ferociously with an onslaught of attacks and was clearly on top and awarded the fight by decision. Tsukamoto therefore added the 1st World Cup to his collection after his victory at the 6th World Tournament the previous year.