W.A.K.O. European Championships 2008 (Varna)

W.A.K.O. European Championships 2008 in Varna were the joint twenty European kickboxing championships held by the W.A.K.O. organization arranged by the Bulgarian kickboxing chief Boyan Kolev, with the second event to be held the next month in Oporto, Portugal. It was the second W.A.K.O. event to be held in Varna and Bulgaria (the last was in 1992) and involved around 500 amateur men and women from 35 countries across Europe.

W.A.K.O. European Championships 2008 (Varna)
The poster for W.A.K.O. European Championships 2008 (Varna)
Information
PromotionW.A.K.O.
Date2225 October 2008
VenuePalace of Culture and Sports
CityBulgaria Varna, Bulgaria
Event chronology
W.A.K.O. World Championships 2007 (Coimbra) W.A.K.O. European Championships 2008 (Varna) W.A.K.O. European Championships 2008 (Oporto)

There were four styles on offer at Varna: Full-Contact and Semi-Contact kickboxing, Musical Forms and Aero-Kickboxing. Only one competitor per weight division were allowed to participate in the Full and Semi-Contact divisions and this also applied for Aero-Kickboxing (which had no weight divisions), while Musical Forms was allowed two maximum per country. The other styles (Low-Kick, K-1, Light-Contact) would be available at the later event in Portugal. The top nation by the end of the championships was Hungary, with regular leaders Russia in second and Ukraine in third. The event was held over four days at the Palace of Culture and Sports in Varna, Bulgaria, starting on Wednesday, 22 October and ending on Saturday, 25 October 2008.[1][2]

Full-Contact

Full-Contact is a style of kickboxing where punches and kicks are allowed to be thrown by the participants at full force, with strikes below the waist prohibited. Most fights result in a judge’s decision or stoppage victory and as with most other forms of amateur kickboxing, head and various body protection must be worn. More information on Full-Contact and the rules can be found at the official W.A.K.O. website.[3] The men had twelve weight divisions in Varga ranging from 51 kg/112.2 lbs to over 91 kg/+200.2 lbs while the women had seven ranging from 48 kg/105.6 lbs to over 70 kg/+143 lbs. Unlike previous W.A.K.O. championships there was not an influx of talent at the Varga event with only several repeat winners such as Alexey Tokarev, having won gold at the world championships in Coimbra the previous year, and Serhiy Cherkaskyy and Hamza Kendircioğlu, having won gold medals at the Europeans in Lisbon two years before. Russia were the strongest nation in the style, pipping neighbours Ukraine into first place by virtue of having won five golds, two silvers and two bronze.[4]

Men's Full-Contact Kickboxing Medals Table

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Light Bantamweight -51 kg Vyacheslav Kanayev Russia Ivan Sciolla Italy Artem Skobchenko Ukraine
Wojciech Perit Poland
Bantamweight -54 kg Serhiy Cherkaskyy Ukraine Franck Gross France Filip Ehsan Bulgaria
Ilnaz Sayfullin Russia
Featherweight -57 kg Alexander Shamray Russia Damian Ławniczak Poland Gregor Debeljak Slovenia
Johannes Wolf Germany
Lightweight -60 kg Vasily Zaytsev Russia Søren Jørgensen Norway Prodan Iovchev Bulgaria
Emrah Ogut Turkey
Light Welterweight -63.5 kg Gabor Gorbics Hungary Kenan Gunaydin Turkey Kostyantyn Demoretskyy Ukraine
Tomasz Pietraszewski Poland
Welterweight -67 kg Edmond Mebenga France Davyd Ahakhanov Ukraine Ibrahim Cicek Turkey
Jarkko Jussila Finland
Light Middleweight -71 kg Christian Kvatningen Norway Vladimir Tarasov Russia Svetoslav Malechkov Bulgaria
Przemysław Ziemnicki Poland
Middleweight -75 kg Andreas Lødrup Norway Stilian Angelov Bulgaria Pavel Garaj Slovakia
Viktor Pethes Hungary
Light Heavyweight -81 kg Igor Prykhodko Ukraine Artak Aganesyan Russia Ferenc Hosszu Hungary
Igor Emkic Bosnia and Herzegovina
Cruiserweight -86 kg Mairis Briedis Latvia Rafał Aleksandrowicz Poland Gamal Hazimeh Israel
Petar Iliev Bulgaria
Heavyweight -91 kg Alexey Tokarev Russia Denys Simkin Ukraine Veniamin Davidis Greece
Ladislav Kacmarak Slovakia
Super Heavyweight +91 kg Hamza Kendircioğlu Turkey Jukka Saarinen Finland Jacek Puchacz Poland
Tihamer Brunner Hungary

Women's Full-Contact Kickboxing Medals Table

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Bantamweight -48 kg Vira Makresova Ukraine Marja-Liisa Väänänen Finland Plamena Dimova Bulgaria
Therese Gunnarsson Sweden
Featherweight -52 kg Nadiya Khayenok Ukraine Mette Solli Norway Sabine Seifert Germany
Liza Padazi Italy
Lightweight -56 kg Valeriya Ishakova Russia Eva Maria Naranjo Spain Tonje Sørlie Norway
Zsuzsanna Szuknai Hungary
Middleweight -60 kg Thea Therese Næss Norway Maria Konstadelov Greece Monika Florek Poland
Sanja Samardzic Bosnia and Herzegovina
Light Heavyweight -65 kg Katarina Furmaniau Poland Julia Irmen Germany Anne Katas Finland
Oleksandra Pliusnina Ukraine
Heavyweight -70 kg Caroline Ek Sweden Marija Pejakovic Serbia Irena Gavrelova Russia
Nives Radic Croatia
Super Heavyweight +70 kg Zeliha Dogrugunes Turkey Karen Dews United Kingdom Adina Cocieru Romania
Valeria Mercurio Italy

Semi-Contact

Semi-Contact is the least physical of the contact kickboxing styles available at W.A.K.O. events. It involves the participants throwing controlled strikes at targets above the waist, with point's scored on the basis of speed and technique with power prohibited. Despite the less physical nature all contestants must wear head and various body protection - more detail on the Semi-Contact and the rules can be found on the official W.A.K.O. website.[5] At Vargas the men had nine weight divisions ranging from 57 kg/125.4 lbs to over 94 kg/+206.8 lbs while the women had six, ranging from 50 kg/110 lbs to over 70 kg/154 lbs and there was also a mixed team event.

Although not full of recognisable faces there were several winners from recent world and European championships with Zsolt Moradi and Zsofia Minda picking up their third gold medals in a row at W.A.K.O. championships, while Andrea Lucchese, Marco Culiersi, Anna Kondar and Gloria De Bei had also won at the last world championships. By the end of the championships, Hungary were easily the most dominant nation in the style, winning ten gold, two silver and two bronze, which also included winning the team event as well.[6]

Men's Semi-Contact Kickboxing Medals Table

Event Gold Silver Bronze
-57 kg Richard Veres Hungary Robbie Hughes United Kingdom Jason Doyle Republic of Ireland
Piotr Bakowski Poland
-63 kg Andrea Lucchese Italy Viktor Hirsch Hungary Klemen Buzina Slovenia
Vitaly Timofeev Russia
-69 kg Laszlo Gombos Hungary Domenico De Marco Italy Michael Gebhart Austria
Christian Welker Germany
-74 kg Tamas Imre Hungary Gregorio Di Leo Italy Morten Spissoy Norway
Nikos Memmos Greece
-79 kg Zsolt Moradi Hungary Stella Neri Italy Rami-Alexandras Raslan Greece
Billy Bryce United Kingdom
-84 kg Kristian Jaroszkiewicz Hungary Robert Knödelseder Germany Andreas Anelopoulos Greece
Zvonmir Gribl Croatia
-89 kg Michel Decian Switzerland Drew Neal United Kingdom Zoltan Dancso Hungary
Dave Hetternan Republic of Ireland
-94 kg Giuseppe De Marco Italy Peter Csikos Hungary Gunther Wenninger Austria
Petr Kotik Czech Republic
+94 kg Tibor Wappel Hungary Lee Matthews United Kingdom Daniel Handel Germany
Gunter Wohlwend Liechtenstein

Women's Semi-Contact Kickboxing Medals Table

Event Gold Silver Bronze
-50 kg Sharon Gill United Kingdom Valentina Barbieri Italy Sinead Beasley Republic of Ireland
Ksenia Guralnik Russia
-55 kg Dorota Godzina Poland Sharon McDermott Republic of Ireland Linda Fogliano Italy
Klaudia Diligens Hungary
-60 kg Gloria De Bei Italy Ida Abrahamsen Norway Emilia Szablowska Poland
Fadeeva Svetlana Russia
-65 kg Bojan Dancsecs Hungary Elaine Small Republic of Ireland Irena Kobosilova Czech Republic
Ina Grindheim Norway
-70 kg Zsofia Minda Hungary Ana Znaor Croatia Natalie Cassidy Republic of Ireland
Adriane Doppler Germany
+70 kg Anna Kondar Hungary Ciara McShane Republic of Ireland Jennifer Otoo United Kingdom
Maria Mauriello Italy

Team's Semi-Contact Kickboxing Medals Table

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Team Hungary Hungary Italy Italy Germany Germany
Great Britain United Kingdom

Musical Forms

Musical Forms is a type of non-physical competition which sees the contestants fighting against imaginary foes using Martial Arts techniques - more information on the style can be found on the W.A.K.O. website.[7] Unlike Full and Semi-Contact kickboxing there were no weight divisions, only male and female competitions and competitors were allowed to compete in more than one category with some countries having than one athlete in each category. The men and women at Varga competed in four different styles explained below:

There were a few familiar winners in Musical Forms at Varga, with regular gold medallists Andrey Bosak and Maria Pekarchyk winning two events each and Veronika Dombrovskaya winning one. By the end of the championships Russia were the top nation in Musical Forms winning four gold, six silver and one bronze.[8]

Men's Musical Forms Medals Table

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Hard Styles Andrey Savushkin Russia Phil Campbell United Kingdom Alberto Leonardi Italy
Soft Styles Andrey Bosak Russia Nikita Pavlov Russia Sedat Sagiroglu Turkey
Hard Styles - Weapons Massimiliano Castellacci Italy Andrey Savushkin Russia Kevin Cetout France
Soft Styles - Weapons Andrey Bosak Russia Nikita Pavlov Russia Filippo Fontana Italy

Women's Musical Forms Medals Table

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Hard Styles Maria Pekarchyk Belarus Elena Chirkova Russia Anastasiya Ovod Ukraine
Soft Styles Veronika Dombrovskaya Belarus Inna Bekestovaya Russia Danausova Darya Ukraine
Hard Styles - Weapons Maria Pekarchyk Belarus Anna Likhonina Russia Anastasiya Ovod Ukraine
Elena Chirkova Russia
Soft Styles - Weapons Ekaterina Chizhikova Russia Veronika Dombrovskaya Belarus Danausova Darya Ukraine

Aero-Kickboxing

Aero-Kickboxing is a non-physical competition, involving participants using a mixture of aerobic and kickboxing techniques in time to specifically selected music. There are no weight divisions as with other forms of kickboxing in W.A.K.O. but there are separate male, female and team categories, with or without an aerobic step. As with Musical Forms, competitors were allowed to compete in more than one category and some countries had more than one athlete in each category. More information on Aero-Kickboxing and the rules can be found on the W.A.K.O. website.[9] Although a lower prestige sport compared to other events, Mikhail Gerasimov stood out amongst the winners by taking gold in both men's events. The top nation in Aero-Kickboxing was Hungary who claimed four golds, one silver and one bronze, which included winning both of the team events.[10]

Men's Aero-Kickboxing Medals Table

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Aero Individual without Step Mikhail Gerasimov Russia Mihaly Perneki Hungary İnanç Kahveci Turkey
Aero Individual with Step Mikhail Gerasimov Russia Husrev Uzunali Turkey Mihaly Perneki Hungary

Women's Aero-Kickboxing Medals Table

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Aero Individual without Step Brigitta Gazdag Hungary Darya Danausova Ukraine Tina Gerbec Austria
Aero Individual with Step Marianna Hegyi Hungary Olena Sereda Ukraine Darya Danausova Ukraine

Team Aero-Kickboxing Medals Table

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Aero Team without Step Hungary Hungary Croatia Croatia Austria Austria
Aero Team with Step Hungary Hungary Croatia Croatia No bronze awarded

Overall Medals Standing (Top 5)

Ranking Country Gold Gold Silver Silver Bronze Bronze
1 Hungary Hungary 15 3 7
2 Russia Russia 11 8 6
3 Ukraine Ukraine 4 4 8
4 Italy Italy 4 6 6
5 Norway Norway 3 3 3

See also

References

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