8th World Tournament 2003 – IKO
Day One
Day
one began as always with the opening the opening ceremony in which home favourite
Hitoshi Kiyama read out the fighter’s oath.
The
first round then began with the sixteen seeded fighters receiving a bye. It was
very noticeable from very early on the strength of the Russian squad and this
seemed to have half the Japanese audience in shock. Andrey Stepin demolished
Australia’s Steve Cujic with punches to win by ippon. Maxim Dedik again looked
devastating as he stopped his French opponent Tony Lingelsar with strong
punches for ippon and Igor Peplov knocked out N'Guessen Yao of the Ivory Coast
with a jodan mawashi geri. Anzor Shikhabakhov gained a wazari for firstly a
punch and then an ushiro geri to defeat Canada’s Baldhalip Thind. Mikhail
Kozlov did not have it his all his own way against Czech Jan
Sokup who was on top for the first period of the fight before Kozlov turned it
round to get the decision. This was similar to the fight with Serbia’s
Ivan Maurusic against Sergey Nikishaev with the Russian again turning the
tables to win by decision. Vasily Timofiev ignored the twenty-five plus
kilogram weight difference as he defeated Holland’s Dominic Monasso in one
round by decision. One of the fights of the day saw Artur Unezhev take on
Toshihiro Kanamori. The fight was equal and in the second extension it appeared
the Japanese fighter was slightly ahead and with seconds to go Unezhev
performed a spectacular rolling ushiro mawashi geri to knock out Kanamori for
ippon. Alexey Reznikov made very short work of New Zealand’s Mikaera
Peita to advance. At the end of the day one the only Russian fighter not
to make it to the second round was Artem Pukas who lost to a
to the large and extremely powerful Bahmann Bourbour of Iran. Japan’s
Osamu Sumitani looked in good form as he defeated Hungary’s Andras Devenyi in
one round, likewise did fellow countrymen Naoki Ichimura and Joji Hibino as
they advance. Tow fighters well in excess of one hundred kilograms then met as
France’s Alexandre Rodrigues and Canadian James Litster met in what was a close
fight that Rodrigues eventually took. Another home fighter Yoshinori Ikeda
weathered the storm from the much larger Robert Phelps of USA to wear him down
and take a deserved decision. Ryuiji Isobe of Brazil used his favourite
technique as he knocked out Govinden Ramalingun of Mauritius with a jodan mawashi
geri. In one of the shocks of the day Australian Sergey Erchov defeated Japan’s
Masayoshi Takaku after a hard fight. Iran’s Farzad Forozan looked physically
very strong as he punched holes in France’s Andre Avenna. Another fight with
two extremely large competitors was Fabrice Fourment of France against Aaron
Smith of Australia. Fourment eventually triumphed in a fight that took its toll
on both fighters. Lorant Paksi and Shin Itoh had a close fight but the Japanese
fighter finished stronger to take the decision. One of the members of the
impressive Siyabonga Tyandela battered Belarus’ Vladzimir Kazlov to advance.
Iran’s Yhosro Yagoubi looked very strong as he defeated Luigi Puglisi of Italy.
Eduardo Tanaka of Brazil dropped Czech Jiry Potys with a punch for ippon and
Masato Ikeda looked strong as he defeated Darius Cetvertinkas by decision.
Argentina’s Emmanual Ruarte looked very quick and technically sound for a man
of his size as he dispatched Frenchman Gerold Serguis. Armenia’s Artur
Oganasian looked very relaxed before exploding into action and launching some
very strong low kicks that gained him an ippon against Canadian John
Carrington. Spain’s Pablo Estensoro who looked as impressive as the rest of the
Spanish team as he deservedly defeated Masataka Ino of Japan in one round.
Naoji Mikoshiba took on Terence Birkett of Great Britain who put up a spirited
display but Mikoshiba was always too strong.
Day Two
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The
second day was marred consistently by poor refereeing and disgraceful
decisions. It appeared that after the first day all officials were very
concerned by the strength of the Russian team and on the second day the
judging became as pro Japanese as it was anti Russian. The IKO rule of when a
fighter has an Genten Ichi at the end of the round then they would lose was
used strategically as a series of Genten Ichi were conveniently awarded for
almost nothing against ten Russian fighters on day two who then went out on
this rule. When the fighting started the first seed to fight was Brazilian
Glaube Feitosa. He looked very calm as he defeated Russia’s Anzor Abatsov and
then the fifty-nine kilogram Atsushi Ino whom despite being well over a foot
shorter put up a great performance but was eventually knocked down for an
ippon. Russia’s Andrey Stepin looked ominously strong as he advanced through
two fights. The fight between Osamu Sumitani and Anzor Shikhabakhov was a
great match and perfectly even but somehow four flags went to the Japanese
fighter after one round in what was a very poor decision. Sumitani then
defeated South African fighter Jason Dawes in one round also. The first
Japansese seed to fight saw Atsushi Kadoi in action against Poland’s Kryzstof
Habraska with Kadoi getting the flags after the first round. In Kadoi’s next
fight he took on the very strong Russian Zalim Temrokov who had previously
beaten comfortably Sebastian Bauza of Argentina. The Russian started the
fight strongly and looked on top and Kadoi did well to stay in the fight. The
tables turned in the second extension where Temrokov appeared to have nothing
left in the tank and Kadoi continually advanced using low kicks to deservedly
get the decision. |
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Joji Hibino advanced by defeating
Jacek Synoradzki of Poland and then Russia’s Ivan Alyanchikov, who had
previously beaten Canada's Dominic Adam, with the help of another dubious
Genten Ichi. Sergey Osipov looked in great form as he won via ippon in no
time against Shane O’Farrell of Australia. Osipov then took on Tadakuni
Tokuda in a hugely controversial fight. After the first round the fight was
very even however two flags went to Tokuda and one to Osipov. Referee Joe
Clarinino who had been arguably the most pro Japanese ref astonishingly gave
the fight to Tokuda. The fighters left the tatami amid a huge array of boos
and jeers at the absolutely disgusting decision. Kancho Matsui to his credit
intervened and ordered the fighters back to the mat and corner judges to re
vote which ended in the right outcome in a draw. The second extension started
and again was very close as Osipov appeared somewhat jaded but a draw was
again even. In the final extension, where the judges had to give a decision,
Tokuda seemed to be on top and Osipov being one of the pre tournament
favourites was in danger of going out. However with seconds to go the Russian
launched a superb axe kick, which floored Tokuda for an ippon as the
non-Japanese fans in the crowd went wild, and ref Clarinino was left wiping
the egg of his face. Another Russian seed in Sergey Plekhanov looked very
strong as he defeated Spain’s Javier Lezcano in one round and took two rounds
to defeat the strong South African Simphwe Dlulane who previously beaten
Russia Alexander Voynich, and did well to hang on for to the end of the
second round. Alessandro Goncalves of Brazil was a fortunate to get the
decision against France's Alexandre Rodrgiues after just one round as was Gun
Irisawa as he defeated Costa Rica's Luis Diego Giralt. Irisawa versus
Goncalves appeared even but again the Japanese fighter got the flags after
one round. Yoshinori Ikeda was impressive against Oleksiy Borysenko of
Ukraine as he won by decision. Ikeda again looked in good form as he beat
Fukuda convincingly in the next round again in one round. Russia's Dmitry Shabanov was
awarded another poor genten ichi as that lead to defeat against Brazil's
Leonardo Taveres. Despite being nearly twenty five kilograms lighter
Bulgarian Emil Kostov who was one of the seeds battered Canadian Sylvain
Lemaire an eventually got an ippon for gedan mawashi geri. Kostov again
looked awesome against Tavares as he got the flags after just one round. |
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Furlan
versus Kozlov was a very scrappy fight and the Russian was again unfortunate
as he was awarded genten ichi for pushing that cost him the fight. Hisashi
Noka of Japan came through against Mmangaliso Mthembu of Zambia via a genten
ichi for a very dubious head punch. The spectacular Spaniard Alejandro
Navarro came close on occasion to knocking out Sergei Erchov of Australia
with spectacular rolling kicks but deservedly got the decision after two
rounds. Navarro then appeared to be battering Noka in their fight but again
mystery head punches downed Noka for a genten ichi that put the Japanese
fighter through in a what was a disgraceful judging
with the far stronger fighter Navarro going out. The very strong Farzad
Forozan of Iran literally chased Nepal's Ritu Bartan Rai for the entire round
and got the decision after one round. The final seed in Block B Yasuhiko
Kimura looked impressive as he score a wazari for a jodan mawshi geri against
Argentine Sebastian Canafoglia. Kimura moved intelligently against the strong
Forozan and picked his opponent of with strong low kicks to get the decision
after one round. |
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Poland's
Thomasz Najduch who was also seeded looked in good form as he bet Russia's
Vadim Ershov in one round. The next fight saw two of the best lightweight
fighters in the world as Brazil's Ryuji Isobe met Osamu Shiojima of Japan.
Shiojima looked the physically stronger nut Isobe came very close with a
number of Jodan mawashi geris. Astonishingly after just one round the best
fight of the tournament was cut short as Shiojima was awarded four flags.
Shiojima then fought superbly against Najduch and kept attacking despite the
size difference and took the fight deservedly took the fight on the scales
Russia's Mikhail Kozlov used his weight advantage well as he defeated
Hiroyuki Owatari in one round to set up a match against the impressive Marcos
Furlan who had defeated Korea's Kim Do Youn with a Jodan Mawashi geri for
wazari. Furlan versus Kozlov was a very scrappy fight and the Russian was
again unfortunate as he was awarded genten ichi for pushing that cost him the
fight. Hisashi Noka of Japan came through against Mmangaliso Mthembu of
Zambia via a genten ichi for a very dubious head punch. The spectacular
Spaniard Alejandro Navarro came close on occasion to knocking out Sergei
Erchov of Australia with spectacular rolling kicks but deservedly got the
decision after two rounds. Navarro then appeared to be battering Noka in
their fight but again mystery head punches downed Noka for a genten ichi that
put the Japanese fighter through in a what was a
disgraceful judging with the far stronger fighter Navarro going out. The very
strong Farzad Forozan of Iran literally chased Nepal's Ritu Bartan Rai for
the entire round and got the decision after one round. The final seed in
Block B Yasuhiko Kimura looked impressive as he score a wazari for a jodan
mawshi geri against Argentine Sebastian Canafoglia. Kimura moved
intelligently against the strong Forozan and picked his opponent of with
strong low kicks to get the decision after one round. Brazilian Ewerton
Teixeira was impressive as he dispatched Frances Fourment in one round by
decision. Igor Peplov took on Bulgarian Plamen Zhelyazkov and the Bulgarian
consistently grabbed the Russian to smother his attacks without any warning
form the refs. This went on for two rounds and lead to Peplov losing on
weight. This was a great shame as the crowd was robbed a potentially great
match in Peplov and Teixeira due to poor judging. When Zhelyazkov took on
Teixeira virtually nothing happened in the two minutes but this time it
appeared the ref were watching as Zhelyazkov was awarded genten ichi for
grabbing that gave Teixeira the fight after two minutes. |
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Argentinean
green belt Raul Zunino amazingly got a wazari for a spectacular tobi ushiro
mawashi geri against Masaki Takao. Taisei Kou defeated the much larger
Michael Martinez of USA after one round. As Zunino took on Kou there was a
buzz of excitement following Zunino's win over Takao. Astonishingly with 30
seconds to go before the end of the round the Argentine repeated his
spectacular technique to gain a wazari. Kou tired to make the wazari up in
the remaining time but with no avail. The very strong Sergey Nikishaev got a
wazari against Mongolia’s Enkhtogtokh Purevdorj to advance. Nikishaev
would then face Bahman Bourbour of Iran who defeated Russia's Sokrat
Suleymanov in a close fight. Bourboaur then faced Nikishaev that was his
third Russian opponent of the tournament and in a completely even fight that
went 2 extensions Nikishaev advanced on weight against the gallant Iranian.
Poland's Piotr Banasik looked impressive as he defeated Canada's Johnny
Leblanc in one round and Kentaro Tanaka despite giving New Zealander Warren
Gabb forty kilo’s mover round intelligently picking off his legs and
eventually scoring a wazari with a well placed low kick. Tanaka versus Banasik
was a close fight and it seemed very harsh on the Pole that the flags went to
Tanaka after just one round. Hiroyuki Kidachi continual pressure against the
Yellow belt from New Zealand Eddie Te Ahu earned him the win after one round
by decision. Germany's Eduard Wallmen and Russian Shamil Lakaev had a real
scrape but the German tired in the first extension and Lakaev got the
decision. Kidachi took on Lakaev and was fortunate to get the flags after the
first extension as the fight appeared very even. Kenshin Morimura defeated
Brazil's Julio Nascimaento in one round and would face the winner of Maxim
Dedik and Shin Itoh. Early on it was evident that Dedik was hurting Itoh with
his powerful punch combinations but Itoh showed good spirit to keep
attacking. The second round was similar also and just as Dedik appeared to be
on top and ready to enter the final extension another diabolical Genten ichi
was awarded for non existent grabbing with seconds to go before the end of
the extension which was enough to once again put the stronger, Russian
fighter out of the tournament. A close fight between Morimura and Itoh saw
Itoh deservedly come through on the scales. Shinji Adachi was fortunate to
get the decision against Russia's Vasily Timofiev after one round and Brazil's
Fabiano Da Silva looked in awesome form as he dropped South African Siyabonga
Tyandela with a shita tsuki for ippon. Da Silva kept up his good form and
deservedly got the decision after two rounds against Adachi in the next round
to advance. Shingo Koyasu defeated Australia's Johnny Reiestad to set up a
clash with one of the favourites in Russia’s Alexandre Pichkunov who easily
defeated Zambian Musa Mavundla. Koyasa had not looked too impressive prior to
this fight but showed great spirit as he kept constantly attacked his much
larger opponent. Pichkunov's strength eventually prevailed as he was awarded
the flags after an extension. |
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Lechi
Kurbanov ominously entered the arena and gained ippon for a chudan tsuki
against Namibian Ndumiso Jantjies. Japan's Hirokazu Kondo defeated Semen
Garan of Ukraine in one round to set up a clash with Kurbanov. Despite giving
his opponent thirty kilograms Kurbanov looked the more powerful and hit Kondo
with two superb back kicks that had the Japanese fighter struggling to stay on
his feet. This was easily enough to give Kurbanov the decision after the
first extension. Brazilian Diogo Silva scored an ippon for a Jodan mawashi
geri against Alexander Savelev of Russia and the very powerful Khosro
Yaghoubi got an ippon for low kick against Canada's Joel Tobin. Yaghoubi
versus Silva was a real scrape and it was s shame not to see another
extension but Silva was awarded a Genten Ichi for pushing, but the Iranian
was a deserved winner. Russia's Sergey Melyuk and Eduardo Tanaka of Brail had
real battle with Melyuk getting the decision after the final extension.
Masato Ikeda made short work of Chilean Felix Palomino as he gained an ippon
with a chudan mae geri. Melyuk versus Ikeda was another even fight that went
the distance but this time Ikeda took the decision. Lithuania's Darius
Cetvertinskas started brightly against Russia's Roman Shcherbakov but was
dropped twice with chudan tsuki for wazari. World Lightweight Champion
Masafumi Tagahara defeated America's Yukihisa Aokusa in one round to face
Shcherbakov. Tagahara's excellent movement consistently frustrated
Shcherbakov who came close on a number of occasions with rolling kicks but
the Japanese fighter cam through on weight. Yuuki Fukui was fortunate to get
the decision after one round against Costa Rica's Erik Goldberg and
Argentina's again Emmanuel
Ruarte looked impressive as he defeated Russia's Artur Unezhev. Ruarte was on top
against Fukui and had two flags after both rounds but the ref awarded a draw
and the Japanese fighter went through on weight. Armenia's Artur Oganasian
again continued his fine form as he dropped Brazil's Odair Guerra wit a punch
for ippon. as did Spain's Pablo Estensoro as
defeated Russia's Vycheslav Nesterov in one round. Oganasian against
Estensoro was a match between two classy fighters but the Armenian's extra
strength showed as he caught his opponent with some superb low kicks and
gained the decision after one round. Poland's Aleksander Bielecki looked very
clumsy against Japan's Naoji Mikoshiba and the Japanese fighter advanced by
decision. New Zealander Troy Freemen looked very strong against Canada's Joe
Johnston despite the weight difference and advanced after the first
extension. Freeman put up a good fight against Mikoshiba in the next round
and was unfortunate that Mikoshiba got the decision after one round. Russia's
Artur Babaev easily defeated Romania's Dorel Bulearca in one round, as did
Japanese favourite Hitoshi Kiyama against Australian Alexander Kaminsky.
Kiyama versus Babaev looked even after one round but home judging prevailed
and took Kiyama through with the smallest difficulty possible. |
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First
fight of the final day saw Glaube Feitosa against the young Russian fighter
Andrey Stepin. Glaube strength and experience showed as he had Stepin hurt on
a number of occasions and including two-cything chudan mawashi geris. The net
result was Feitosa deservedly got the decision after the first round. The
strength of Atsushi Kadoi low kicks had Sumitani in trouble form the start of
the fight and Kadoi got the flags at the end of three minutes. Sergio Da
Costa despite looking somewhat awkward looked physically stronger than Naoki
Ichimura and Ichimura was warned for pushing and then received a genten ichi
for a throat punch that sent the Brazilian through. The next fight saw
Russia's Sergey Osipov at his spectacular best as he had Joji Hibino rattle
from the start and score a wazari for firstly jodan mawashi geri and then a
superb jodan hiza geri to take the fight. Sergey Plekhanov put in a
spectacular last thirty-second burst that was enough to get him the decision
after the first round against Gun Irisawa. Emil Kostov was made to work
unnecessarily hard against Yoshinori Ikeda he did not get the decision after
one round despite his dominance. The second round was the same story with
Kostov's strong low kicks and punches taking their toll on Ikeda and two flags
were awarded but the ref gave a draw. After a final extension and Kostov
getting two flags once more but still not being awarded the fight it went to
the scales. There was no significant weight difference and Kostov won via
tameshiwari as hi broke 19 boards to Ikeda's 16. Kostov was made to work much
harder than he would have hoped by the judges and this did not bode well for
his fight against Plekhanov. Osamu Shiojima was again impressive against
Brazil's Marcos Furlan but the Brazilian's low kicks and weight advantage
took their toll as he got the decision after the second extension. It was
only poor judging that had got Hisashi Noka to this stage and a poor fight
saw him exit to Yasuhiko Kimura who cleverly tried to use up as little energy
as possible and final give Noka his long overdue exit. There was an air of
excitement as Argentine Raul Zunino entered the mat against Brazil's Ewerton
Teixeira. It was clear from the start that due to Teixeira's strength Zunino
would have to keep at distance. Soon after coming close with his trademark
rolling ushiro mawashi geri Zunino was dropped for ippon with a shita tsuki
to put Teixeira through. Hiroyuki Kidachi and Shin Itoh had real scrap with
nothing to split them after two extensions. There was no significant weight
distance and Kidachi advance via Tameshiwari. Sergey Nikishaev then took on
Kentaro Tanaka of Japan, Tanaka moved round well
picking of the static Russian with strong low kicks that were clearly hurting
Nikishaev and Tanaka deservedly got the flags after three minutes. Alexandre
Pichkunov made his intent clear against Brazil's Fabiano Da Silva by
constantly attacking with spearing punches. He was a little fortunate, as it appeared the punch that scored a wazari
was a little high and despite fighting back Da Silva could not retrieve the
wazari. Due to breaking his arm in the tameshiwari an emotional Yhosro
Yaghoubi was unable to face Lechi Kurbanov who advanced to the next round.
Masoto Ikeda and Masafumi Tagahara had a hugely entertaining fight. Tagahara
was the much lighter of the two and moved around well and countered
effectively. Ikeda got two flags after the first extension but the ref
awarded a draw and after a superb final extension Tagahara who was ahead on
weight won via decision. Armenia's Artur Oganasian again looked menacing as
he attacked and overpowered Yuuki Fukui and took the decision after one
round. Hitoshi Kiyama and Naoji Mikoshiba had a real battle in the final
fight of the round and the ref was correct to order an extension after the
Kiyama received two flags at the end of the first round. Half way in to the
first round Kiyama showed why he is one of the favourites as he knocked
Mikoshiba out cold with a stunning jodan mawashi geri for ippon. |
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The
last 16 opened with a fantastic fight between Feitosa and Kadoi. Every time
the Brazilian appeared to be on top Kadoi would come back strongly with
powerful low kicks. The first round and both extensions ended with no flags
awarded to either fighter an enthralling fight Feitosa came through by
Tameshiwari as he broke 22 boards to Kadoi's 19. One thing was evident that
Feitosa had taken a lot more punishment and made to work a lot harder than he
would have liked in this fight. Sergey Osipov and Sergio Da Costa then had a
scrappy fight that saw both fighters receive genten ichi for pushing. Osipov
never looked trouble and Da Costa looked unlikely to knock the Russian out.
After the second extension it went to the scales and Osipov advanced due to
being over ten kilograms lighter than Da Costa. Russia's Sergey Plekhanov
then took on Emil Kostov in what had the potential for a thriller; Kostov
started the fight very well and caught Plekhanov with some strong low kicks
that looked like he was in trouble. However regular as clockwork, with thirty
seconds on the clock Plekhanov unleashed a non-stop barrage of punches that
the Kostov struggled to counter and the Russian got a unanimous decision. It
was a shame this fight was at this stage and Kostov had been made to fight
two more extensions than he probably should have in the previous round.
Yasuhiko Kimura then took on Brazilian Marcos Furlan,
Kimura was aware of Furlan's high kicks and moved around countering with
strong low kicks that started to cause Furlan's leg to buckle. At one point
it looked like Kimura may get a wazari but he deservedly got the flags after
the opening round. Ewerton Teixeira of Brazil versus Kentaro Tanaka was an
interesting fight as Teixeira used his height advantage well as he nearly
kicked Tanaka into the crowd with some very strong mae geri's. Teixeira was
unlucky not to get the fight after one round but there was no question after
the first extension as he got the decision. In this fight poor judging again
came in to play, as it appeared the officials did not one more Russians in
the final eight than Japanese. |
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Pichkunov
literally battered Kidachi for the first round an astonishingly one judge
gave the flag to Kidachi, in the first extension just as Pichkunov was
completely on top in the fight he was awarded a genten ichi that put Kidachi
through in an another appalling decision. Lechi Kurbanov slowly stalked the
much smaller Tagahara around the mat in a relaxed manner before catching
Tagahara with an ushiro geri in the face right at the end of the round to
gain a wazari to advance. Kiyama came out wary of Oganasian and rightly so as
the Armenian caught Kiyama with some strong low kicks and then an axe kick
early on that had Kiyama visibly shaken. Kiyama responded in true champions style as he pulled out a mawashi geri chudan out
of now where to drop Oganasian for ippon. |
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The
first quarter final pitted two exceptional fighter as Feitosa took on Osipov,
the first round was very even but it was evident that Feitosa's extra
strength was a telling factor. In the extension despite Osipov trying a
couple of spectacular head kicks and both fighter being warned for pushing it
was Feitosa who put in a solid burst of punches at the end of the extension
to get the flags. Sergey Plekhanov versus Yasuhiko Kimura was a very close
fight and was a deserved draw at the end of the first round as Kimura moved intelligently
to avoid the full brunt of Plekhanov's now customary burst. The first
extension was very similar apart from Plekhanov was now appearing to be the
stronger and fitter of the two fighters nut was only awarded one flag after
the first extension. The second extension was almost a carbon copy of the
first and how one of the judges gave it to Kimura was mystery to all the
audience. The fighter went to the scales and there was no significant weight difference so it went to Tameshiwari were Plekhanov amasses
an amazing 29 boards to Kimura's very respectable 21. In the third quarter
final Teixeira used his mae geri well against a heavily injured Hiroyuki
Kidachi and there was no question that Teixeira deserved the fight after one
round. The next fight had the potential to be one of the fights of the
tournament as the awesome Lechi Kurbanov took on Hitoshi Kiyama. Kiyama was
wary of Kurbanov and moved well and hit him with some good low kick and even
caught him with a jodan mawashi geri. Kurbanov in return hit Kiyama with a
powerful Chudan mawashi geri that Kiyama did well to stay up on. The round
ended completely even and it was another very poor decision when two flags
were awarded to Kiyama and then dumbfounded the crowd where stunned further
when the ref gave Kiyama the decision that robbed the whole arena of an
exciting matchthat had the potential to be the fight of the tournament. |
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The first semi
final was Glaube Feitosa against Sergey Plekhanov. Both fighter
had been in some very gruelling encounters in their previous rounds and this
match would be difficult for both fighters. Feitosa tried to make use of his
kicks as much as possible in the opening round but injuries along with some
good by Plekhanov lead to both fighters trading mainly punches. As the clock
ticked down in the first round with thirty seconds to go Plekhanov started
his now customary onslaught, this barrage of attacks really had Feitosa
shaken but to his credit dug deep to continue to attack, but with much less
frequency, to the end of round but Plekhanov had clearly finished stronger.
The flags went up and two were awarded to the Russian and the ref awarded a draw.
The first extension got underway in similar fashion to the rest of the fight, however this time it was plain for the crowd to see
Feitosa was struggling to cope with Plekhanov’s punches and when thirty
seconds to go appeared on the screen Plekhanov, conducted his attack. This
time try as he could Feitosa could not fight the Russian off who continually
attached with body punches and it was clear that the Brazilian was a broken
man who was on his way of the tournament. The round finished and Plekhanov was
awarded the flags, as he became the first Russian to reach the final of a
World Tournament. Semi final number two was another classic match. Brazil’s young star Ewerton Teixeira against the Japanese favourite Hitoshi Kiyama. The first round saw both fighters start brightly by moving intelligently and launching attacks. Teixeira’s mae geri came into play once more as he at times nearly kicked Kiyama of the mat, who it must be said started to read the mae geris and avoid them and then counter with low kicks effectively that trouble the Brazilian. As the round drew to a close it appeared that both fighters wanted to finish strong, and in the last 45 seconds the Teixeira and Kiyama fought at close quarters with both unleashing furious punches and low kicks. |
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First
it appeared that Teixeira was on top, then Kiyama came back, then Teixeira
once more then Kiyama attacked in what was a thrilling end to the round. The
judges had no option as the fight was giving a draw by all corners. The first
extension began at a high pace with both fighters with Kiyama moving well to
avoid the Brazilian’s range who came close with a couple of jodan mawashi
geris that Kiyama moved out the way in his own inimitable way and countered
strongly. The extension ended once more with a flurry of activity from both
fighters in much the same way as before and once again it appeared the
fighters couldn’t be separated. Amazingly in what was another poor decision
two flags went to Kiyama and the referee gave the decision to the home
fighter and brought to an end what had been the fight of the tournament when
it was equal. |
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3rd
Place fight off
The third place
fight off was a sullen affair as it Feitosa was not only heavily injured but
exhausted also. It was clear that the young Brazilian Teixeira had huge respect
for his fellow countryman in did enough to win the fight after the one round
without inflicting any more damage on Feitosa.
Final
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The final pitted
one of the Russian elite in Sergey Plekhanov against Japan’s Hitoshi Kiyama.
Kiyama moved around and used low kicks well and Plekhanov attacked mainly
with punches and Kiyama also came close with a jodan mawashi geri that
appeared to connect. As the round drew to a close Plekhanov set about his
onslaught but the previous fights had taken their toll as it he did not seem
as effective as he had done previously but credit to Kiyama who used many
inside low kicks to put the Russian off balance and attacked with punches of
his own. The round predictably ended evenly. What came next was astonishing
as two flags were red and Referee Isobe awarded the fight to Kiyama after
just one round. The crowd voiced their displeasure but there would be no
extension and Hitoshi Kiyama was crowned the new World Champion. Overall the
tournament was an great event but one can not help feeling that it only every
reached 65-70% of its potential, as poor refereeing, and lets be honest
biased judging, played a large part in the whole event. Personally I think
Kiyama is a very worthy World Champion and possibly or even probably would
have won the tournament anyway, but it would have been have been great to see
him pushed to the limits in the quarterfinal, semi final and final where he
almost certainly would have been. The Japanese wanted a home winner and that
is what they got but next time around they will have much more difficulty
keeping the title on home shores after viewing many of the foreign fighters
who will be there in four years time.
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