W.A.K.O. World Championships 2007 (Belgrade)

W.A.K.O.'s K-1 category uses the same rules set by the K-1 organization and combine a mixture of techniques from Muay Thai, Karate, western boxing and other forms of stand up fighting.[2] The main difference between K-1 rules and other forms of kickboxing is the use of the clinch and knees – which have recently been limited to one knee per clinch. Attacks that are legal include strikes to the head (front, side and forehead), the torso (front and side), leg (any part) and foot/feet (sweeps only). As mentioned before fighters are also allowed to knees (only one hand to clinch and one knee strike per clinch) and can use the back fist/spinning back fist technique. Strikes that are illegal include attacks to the top of the head, the back, the top of the shoulders, the neck and shots to the groin. Techniques involving elbows are also illegal. Due to the amateur nature of W.A.K.O. championships all fighters must wear protection for their head, teeth, breast (women only) groin, shin and feet, and must fight with the standard 10-ounce (280 g) gloves.[3]

Each fight is three, two-minute rounds and is scored by three judges who score successful (legal) strikes that are not blocked, and are thrown with full power. As with other forms, illegal strikes may result in a point(s) deduction or even disqualification. Unlike Full-Contact and Low-Kick it is not necessary for the minimum six kicks per round to be counte. Victory can be achieved by a point's decision, technical knockout or knockout, abandonment (when one fighter gives up), disqualification or by a walkover (other fighter is unable to participate). If a fighter is knocked down three times in the fight he will automatically lose via technical knockout. More detail on K-1 rules can be found at the official W.A.K.O. website.[4]

Weight classes in K-1 at Belgrade were similar to that of the Low-Kick category, with the men having eleven weight classes from bantamweight (54 kg or 118.8 lb) to super heavyweight (over 90 kg or 200.2 lb), while the women's had six beginning at featherweight (52 kg or 114.4 lb) and ending super heavyweight (over 70 kg or 154 lb). Belarus was the most successful nation in K-1 winning five gold, three silver and five bronze in both the male and female categories.[5]

K-1 (Men) Medals Table

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Bantamweight -54 kg	Fernando Machado	Aliaksei Papou	Amine Alaoui M'Hamdi
			Azamat Murzabekov
Featherweight -57 kg	Maksym Glubochenko	Aleksandar Gogic	Yury Satsuk
			Gaetano Verziere
Lightweight -60 kg	Elbar Umarakaev	Emrah Ogut	Serhiy Adamchuk
			Gillermo Estrada Martinez
Light Welterweight -63.5 kg	Andrei Kulebin	Kurbanali Akaev	Jose Luis Uribe Garcia
			Sreten Miletic
Welterweight -67 kg	Piotr Kobylanski	Gor Shavelyan	Vitaliy Hubenko
			Yauheni Vinahradau
Light Middleweight -71 kg	Dmitry Valent	Rizvan Isaev	Djime Coulibaly
			Manuele Raini
Middleweight -75 kg	Yury Harbachou	Kamel Metzani	José Reis
			Ile Risteski
Light Heavyweight -81 kg	Dmitry Kirpan	Luka Simic	Dzianis Hanchardnak
			Alexander Stetsurenko
Cruiserweight -86 kg	Dženan Poturak	Ivan Stanić	Zaur Alakbarov
			Siarhei Krauchanka
Heavyweight -91 kg	Andrei Malchanau	Atanas Stojkovski	Zoran Majkic
			Nenad Miletic
Super Heavyweight +91 kg	Alexei Kudin	Dzhamal Kasumov	Mladen Bozic
			Mirko Vlahovic

K-1 (Women) Medals Table

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Featherweight -52 kg	Rajaa Hajdaowi	Yulia El Skaya	Natasa Ninic
			Eva Ott
Lightweight -56 kg	Souad Rochdi	Alena Kuchynskaya	Donatella Panu
			Natalia Grabowska
Middleweight -60 kg	Alena Muratava	Kseniya Belskaya	Paola Cappucci
			Suzana Radovanovic
Light Heavyweight -65 kg	Elena Solareva	Ala Ivashkevich	Jelena Djuric
			Only 3 contestants
Heavyweight -70 kg	Eva Halasi	Rabih Soukayna	Maryna Kalinina
			Ekaterina Rokunova
Super Heavyweight +70 kg	Zita Zatyko	Samira El Haddad	Azza Attoura
			Albina Vaskeykina

Low-Kick is similar to Full-Contact kickboxing only that as well as allowing kicks and punches to the head and body, it also allows clean kicks to be made to opponents legs. Attacks that are legal include strikes to the head (front, side and forehead), the torso (front and side), leg (thigh) and foot/feet (sweeps only). Strikes that are illegal include attacks to the top of the head, the back, the top of the shoulders, the neck and the groin. All fighters are required to wear protection for their head, teeth, breast (women only) groin, shin and feet, and must fight with the standard 10-ounce (280 g) gloves.[6]

A minimum of six kicks must be thrown each round or points may be deducted by the referee. Each fight is three, two minute rounds and is scored by three judges. The judges will score successful (legal) strikes that are not blocked, and are thrown with full power. Illegal moves may result in points deduction or if repeated, disqualification. In the event of a draw after three rounds the judges will base the victor on who was stronger in the final round, or failing that will use their remarks from each round to deduce who wins. Victory can be achieved by a point's decision, technical knockout or knockout, abandonment (when one fighter gives up), disqualification or by a walkover (other fighter is unable to participate). If a fighter is knocked down three times in the fight he will automatically lose via technical knockout. More detail on Low-Kick rules can be found at the official W.A.K.O. website.[7]

At Belgrade the men's Low-Kick competition had twelve six weight classes starting at light bantamweight (51 kg or 112.2 lb) to super heavyweight (over 91 kg or 200.2 lb), while the women's had six ranging from featherweight (52 kg or 114.4 lb) to super heavyweight (over 70 kg or 154 lb), while . As with Light-Contact, by the championships end, Russia was the strongest nation, having won an impressive haul of six gold, two silver and two bronze medals.[8]

Low-Kick (Men) Medals Table

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Light Bantamweight -51 kg	Zaur Mammadov	Ivan Sciolla	Aleksandar Aleksandrov
			Utkin Hudoyanov
Bantamweight -54 kg	Emil Karimov	Jordan Vassilev	Youness Ouali Alami
			Fabrice Bauluck
Featherweight -57 kg	Dzmitry Varatis	Boban Marinkovic	Umar Paskhaev
			Elnur Salamov
Lightweight -60 kg	Zurab Faroyan	Eduard Mammadov	Fikri Arican
			Dzianis Tselitsa
Light Welterweight -63.5 kg	Artur Magadov	Soufiane Zridy	Mirlan Ibraimov
			Mihajio Jovanovic
Welterweight -67 kg	Nikolay Shtakhanov	Yahya Alemdag	Nebojsa Denic
			Ramil Nadirov
Light Middleweight -71 kg	Konstantin Sbytov	Michał Głogowski	Milan Dragojlovic
			Paolo Iry
Middleweight -75 kg	Marko Benzon	Bakari Tounkara	Dragan Micic
			Nurlan Nurgaliyev
Light Heavyweight -81 kg	Nenad Pagonis	Rail Rajabov	Viktor Nordh
			Denes Racz
Cruiserweight -86 kg	Gamzat Isalmagomedov	Stipe Stipetic	Bojan Glavas
			Georgiy Yemeliyanov
Heavyweight -91 kg	Yauhen Anhalevich	Igor Jurković	Dmitriy Antonenko
			Abdeslam Narjiss
Super Heavyweight +91 kg	Dragan Jovanović	Mikhail Shvoev	Ruslan Aushev
			Hafiz Bahshaliyev

Low-Kick (Women) Medals Table

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Featherweight -52 kg	Seda Duygu Aygün	Nadiya Khayenok	Aliya Boranbayeva
			Maria Krivoshapkina
Lightweight -56 kg	Lidia Andreeva	Milena Dincic	Elisa Albinsson
			Alicja Piecyk
Middleweight -60 kg	Valerija Kurluk	Fatima Bokova	Ana Mandic
			Barbara Plazzoli
Light Heavyweight -65 kg	Kamila Balanda	Mimma Mandolini	Vera Avdeeva
			Ina Ozerava
Heavyweight -70 kg	Amzail Bouchra	Nives Radic	Natasa Ivetic
			Elena Kondratyeva
Super Heavyweight +70 kg	Paulina Biec	Olivera Milanovic	Aigul Kozhagaliyeva
			Benita Muller

In this form of kickboxing fighters are scored on their ability to land controlled and clean strikes with an emphasis put on style over power. Fighters that fight too aggressively may be cautioned by the referee and, if the offence is repeated, may be disqualified, although strikes that are too light (such as a push or brush) will not be scored either. Attacks are allowed to the head (front, side and forehead), the torso (front and side) and leg (foot sweeps). As mentioned before excessive force is illegal as well as strikes to the top of the head, the back, the top of the shoulders, the neck and below the belt. Light-Contact is seen as the intermediate stage between Semi and Full-Contact kickboxing involving more physicality than Semi but less so than Full. All fighters are required to wear protection for their head, teeth, breast (women only) groin, shin and feet, and must fight with the standard 10oz gloves.[9]

Fighters score the following points for landing a controlled strike on their opponent; punch, kick to body, foot sweep (1 point), kick to head, jumping kick to body (2 points), jumping kick to head (3 points). Each fight is three, two-minute rounds and is scored by three judges. In the event of a draw the match will be scored electronically. Victory can be achieved by points decision, technical knockout (usually when one fighter is so dominant the referee is forced to stop the contest), abandonment (when one fighter gives up), disqualification or by a walkover (other fighter is unable to participate). More detail on Light-Contact rules can be found at the official W.A.K.O. website.[10]

Light-Contact uses slightly different weight classes from Low-Kick and K-1. At Belgrade the men had nine weight classes, starting at 57 kg or 125.4 lb and ending at over 94 kg (206.8 lb), while the women's Light-Contact competition had five weight classes beginning at 55 kg (121 lb) and ending at over 70 kg (154 lb). At the end of the championships, Russia was the most successful nation in Light-Contact having won five gold and two silver medals.[11]

Light-Contact (Men) Medals Table

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
-57 kg	Dezső Debreczeni	Maxim Aysin	Thomas Karlsson
			Selcuk Laleci
-63 kg	Marko Sarko	Sandor Szanto	Murat Aydin
			Kostyantyn Demorets'kyy
-69 kg	Przemyslaw Ziemnicki	Fighter Disqualified	Dejan Cepic
			Fighter Disqualified
-74 kg	Sergey Zhukov	Jerzy Wronski	Martin Muravsky
			Kieran Ryan
-79 kg	Zoltan Dancso	Stefan Bücker	Robert Matyja
			Martin Navratil
-84 kg	Murat Pukhaev	Christian Albrecht	Mariusz Niziolek
			Jeno Novak
-89 kg	Ildar Gabbasov	Gavin Williamson	Yohann Lemair
			Juso Prosic
-94 kg	Giovanni Nurchi	Emin Panyan	Ranis Smajlovic
			Artem Vasylenko
+94 kg	Michal Wszelak	Igor Kravchuk	Pascal Blunschi
			Csaba Podor

Light-Contact (Women) Medals Table

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
-55 kg	Maria Kushtanova	Monika Molnar	Kateryna Solovey
			Maria Krivoshapkina
-60 kg	Klara Marton	Julie McHale	Monika Florek
			Andrea Ivas
-65 kg	Sabina Sehic	Nicole Trimmel	Julia Göldner
			Irena Kobosilova
-70 kg	Agnieszka Poltorak	Karin Edenius	Dianna Cameron
			Nikolina Juricev
+70 kg	Oxana Kinakh	Barbara Kovacs	Diana Cambell
			Natali John

The nation that came out on top at the W.A.K.O. Amateur World Championships 2007 in Belgrade were Russia who amassed fourteen gold, ten silvers and ten bronze medals in all categories, both male and female.[12]

Ranking	Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1	Russia	14	10	10
2	Belarus	8	4	8
3	Serbia	3	4	11
4	Poland	6	2	5
5	Hungary	4	4	4

• List of WAKO Amateur World Championships
• List of WAKO Amateur European Championships

• WAKO World Association of Kickboxing Organizations Official Site