In just one and a half week, the European Championship Shinkyokushin will be held in Poland! As mention before, adding new categories has not only increased the number of athletes in the tournament – but we are looking forward to some new match up between fighters that has been in separate categories previous years. Some of the strong profiles are retired, but we are also very happy to see the next generation really steps up! And of course some “immortal” are still going strong!
In this category we must say that the reign Super Heavyweight Champion Maciej Mazur, Poland is the big favorite. But the line up will give us several interesting match ups. In this category we have 14 fighters from eight nations. In this tournament this will mean that it is the “smallest” category. But compared to others, this is a solid class, number as well as level. Mazur the favorite – as we said, but who will challenge him? ⇐ Maciej Mazur, Poland. Heavy favorite in this European Championship, and also set for the The 1st International Full Contact Karate Championship, held in Japan 19-20 May.
Lithuanian fighters Juras Sokolovas and Orestas Abazorius. We take it for granted that these keep a very good level. Qualifying through one of Europe’s strongest nations sets certain demands – and since both are ready for EC. As with more in this category, they are not so established in senior EC – yet. But both have excellent performance including through U-22 EC.
In addition, strong nations like Ukraine and Hungary 
have full quota, with two fighters each. These are undoubtedly also at a good level. And one point is that these have often fought the fight against heavier athletes, since the weight class has been different from now than before. (These fighters have often been in the heaviest category)
Denmark have two fighters, Fady Allan ⇒ and Julian Bjerrekær. Both are very well rounded, solid technical base with experience on top of that. Not at the same level as the favorite perhaps, but been on the podium several times in strong tournaments.
