Finally the day is here for the 4th World Open Knockdown IFK. IFK has worked hard to include as many as possible in the tournament. The foundation and some of the pro active work for this, of course, been British Open, and participation in other open tournaments across the organizations and associations.
But who will fight on the mat today ….?
This World Cup is open to all organizations. This can be done up to a certain point. When organizations or the number of participants are many enough. -or too many, one has to make adjustments. Size-wise it’s limit to be implemented with the current setting. IFK have done a great job gathered so many this weekend. And with almost 50 fighters in the heavyweight, well you got the point! When the tournament is so large, and one even has multiple organizations, it may be difficult to see the whole picture, or know about all the athletes. Neither do we, but we can share what we think ..
Lightweight Men -70 kg
Lightweight men with 32 athletes is a very very competent class. Great Britain have their number one fighters ready with Darren Stringer, Spencer Bennett and Alan Shnawa. All have won the British Open, and will likely most likely to advance in the tournament, and therefore seeded in relation to the draw.But the biggest favorites will probably be Russia’s athletes, who are always at the top. We believe that the chance for see them fight in “the best 8” are big, and that will be something to look forward to! But as always, you never know in Kyokushin, and all fights shall be done!
Middleweight Men -80 kg
42 fighters in this category, and that with some withdraws in the last minutes! A great category with many top fighters to follow. Darren Chan – IFK Great Britain, Daniel Sanchez – IBK Spain, Artem Nazaretyan – IFK Russia, Sergei Chmunevich – IFK Russia are top fighters, but in this category we have a closer level that the lightweight. Zsolt Zsiga – IBK Hungary, Marek Odzeniak – Poland Shinkyokushin, Arnould Cijntjes – IFK Holland are also fighters to look out for. when the class is so large, it is obviously essential how much damage be incurred early in the tournament. Number of matches will mark the tournament fighter, and x factor if one has as many Hikiwake,as British Open is known for.
Heavyweight Men +80 kg
The largest category in the tournament with 46 fighters ready! But we add that from other tournaments that some split this category in two with over/under 90 kg. However this is the category with the biggest profiles. Alexey Gorochov – IFK Russia and Alexey Mezhevtsov – IFK Russia. These two are top elite fighters and it will be a surprise if the miss the podium. Alexey Mezhevtsov nr.one ranked fighter of 2012, Alexey Gorochov – the veteran with so many merits that we can`t list them up! Won the 1st KWF World Cup recently, but that tournament can not be compared with this World Cup at all. Other who will pull through : Jonatan Tineo Chica – Spain Rengokai, Kevin Wiklund – Sweden Sokyokushin, Viktor Mozzherin – IFK Kazakhstan, Enrico Rogge – WIBK Germany, Fujii Masaki – Japan Kyokushin-Kan.
Lightweight Women -60 kg
Emma Markwell – IFK Great Britain, Maria Lepina – IFK Russia,Priscilla Lambregtse – IFK Holland,Svetlana Berezova – IFK Russia all with strong records, and they have met in previous tournaments, often in British Open battling for the top spot. And the picture many have are that they will fight for the top spot to day also. Fresh and promising fighter in this category Cecilia Wallin – Sweden Shinkyokushin, Johanna Rapp – Sweden Shinkyokushin, Stephanie van de Rijt – Sokyokushin Holland
Anett Leiter – Hungary Shinkyokushin,Lisa Marie Heath – IFK Great Britain.
Heavyweight Women +60 kg
In this category the home fighters are line up : Lia Howlett – IFK Great Britain
Samantha Williams – IFK Great Britain,Kelly Balmer – IFK Great Britain. British Open winner and many tournaments under their belt. From Russia Irina Kriazheva -IFK Russia, Svetlana Tuchkova – IFK Russia, who will be a big challenge for the home fighters. From Poland we have Anna Brzezicka – Poland Shinkyokushin
Agata Kaliciak – Poland Shinkyokushin, both good fighters. Two of these top fighters meet in 1.st round : Anna Brzezicka vs Svetlana Tuchkova. We think Svetlana Tuchkova will take this, and end up top four, with Williams, winner of Kaliciak vs Balmer and winner of Howlett vs Kriazheva.