The new year will for sure start with a bang! The number of registered participants is now more than 220, and it will probably not stop there! It is also of great interest to see that practitioners from Ashihara Karate from several nations have joined. Among twenty countries have signed in, and many strong nations with their profiles are ready to top this years Diamond Cup! Europe are represented, so are Russia and Japan with more..!
Going in to the new year several tournaments raises, to be a international top fighter these days is a full season activity. Diamond Cup i Belgium would be one of the most profiled tournament. But before that, the Polish Open Carpathia Cup will be held 27th January 2018. The 2017 edition gathered close to 500 participants from different nations. But this is a “All age tournament” with seniors old masters – to children.
There is hard to find a tournament like The Diamond Cup. The mix of nations, styles and organizations are something alone that bring the event in a certain light – but the world wide connection really adds the spices when top Japanese fighters also enters. Having the tournament every other year seems like a very good idea. Good time to set the date and to promote it, and that is a point when the schedule are tight as it is.
Koen Spitaels Shihan, with his enormous capacity and capabilities to make thing happens…as always one do have to have a team, and one who can inform the team what the goal is. We could write for a long time about Koen Spitaels incredible work, but we like to compare his work with the Diamond Cup: Unique, reaches around the world – and it`s just one of a kind! .
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⇑Sensei Paulius Klapatauskas, Shihan Koen and Shihan Shinichi Sotodate, Japan
We mention that the number of participants is ca 230, and out of the total number we got 120 fighters in the senior category Kumite. Besides the “Old Masters” and Junior categories, it is very nice to see a good Kata category as well! Belgium is very suitable when we think geographically. Central to Europe as it is, and is a good international hub.
Of course Belgium is making a good team for the tournament, but it is the Netherlands that really marches with over fifty participants. Denmark is also noticeable with twenty participants together with Germany. As said, there is a great deal of participation, and countries from more East Europe are also present, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Ukraine, Georgia. Further beyond Europe, you have Kazakhstan and Russia before you are down in Asia.
Full list of countries and the number of participants on the official website – visit it for more!
In the women`s division, there is a little twist regarding to the weight categories, with the lightest category is under 57 kg, mostly we see under 60 or 55 kg. But we believe that this category is a smart move, instead of lighter one who probably would slimmed down the number of fighters. In this moment we have a nice division with 12 fighters.
Women under 57 kg Lightweight
Many good fighters in the category, and a good spread. Nederland and Great Britain have two fighter each the rest one, whit other words ten nations i the line up. ⇐Emma Markwell GB would be the clear favorite in our eyes. Great all-round skills, and the capabilities to end fights before full time. Recently fought her way into the third WC final, that brings her ahead from the rest. Correct enough in minus 60 kg class, but this makes her (if possible) just stronger in this class. She is also very good at taking advantage of her reach, of course, as a top fighter she is. One must hope that it is not a big problem to crumble into approved weight, since Markwell usually fights in i -60 kg.
Others that we have seen on the podium`s and known names would be Violeta Litovska, BUL and Valence Bickel, NED – both European Champions, Bickel in 2017 KWF, Litovska in 2016 WKO, Sandra Nowak ⇒, POL, runner up EC champion in 2017. We believe that they are all are strong European scale fighters at a high level, earlier mention Markwell the same – but we would change European scale to World scale.
We mention also the 57 kg category, and it is also so that we have several fighters that are used to fight in lighter categories, all the way down to under 50 kg. This means that one could have decisions, or tactical fighting based on the wight difference also.
Women under 65 kg Middleweight
In this category one could think that this would be the most crowded category. But in this moment we have twelve fighters, and it would be great with a handful more, maybe to reach 16. But the quality among the fighters are as expected more or less. Seven nations represented, and mainly from Vest Europe. Poland is the nation farthest east, and this is where we find one of the favorites as well. Marta Lubos, will be one of the most merited fighters in this category, but she has been on a break, so one do have to count that one in and give the fighters a chance to establish themselves again.
A fighter who is very in the zone is Camille Haddouche, ⇒ FRA She has been noted for several tournaments throughout 2017, and has achieved good results with hard work, together with a very active French team. Other fighters that do have good experience and results would be Stephanie Van De Rijt, NED and Sanne Larsson, SWE. Both has been in many tournaments, fought with the best, and know what it takes to win a close fight. Sweden have three fighters, Larsson, Dina Klajic and Cecilia Wallin. Last one, Wallin the most merited, top spots would be two times on the EC podium WKO, and several open victories.
In this category we might see a little ripple effect of the three weight category, and -57 (not 60 or 55) as the lightest one. Van De Rijt and Lubos, as examples, have been fighting in lightweight under 60 kg on a regular basis, and maybe have their strongest merits there. But now in the under 65 kg category. Both do have the skills to fight there, and their pace will be a challenge for everyone. Changing weight class could be hard, but there would also be good things to make to an advantage. And on a regular basis if the fight is almost harder to make weight then fight on the tatemi- it would be a reason to evaluate that.
Women +65 kg Heavyweight
Twelve fighters, Sweden, Spain, Netherlands, Denmark, France, Belgium ,Germany and Russia. From last time, 2016, the number of fighters are doubled, and there are several interesting fighters in the line up. The top fighters last time was heavy merited, and with world champion Szepesi Csenge in the lead. The runner up from last edition, Sara Hägge, Sweden has lifted her record since last time, being the reign European champions in 2017. Hägge on her way to the final last time, beat EC/WC champion Diana Cantero, Spain – may be a rematch this time?
Or maybe Hägge is up for a rematch against Russian top fighter Anna Vishnyakova. They met in the world championship weight categories, where Vishnyakova took the fight.
Further down the line up we have more skilled fighters. From a strong Danish team Christine Buchholtz, ⇒ who was the U22 EC champion back for some years. After that Buchholtz continues to collect trophies, last time at the podium was in the Branko Memorial 2017.
Roxanne Ramselaar, NED, can also make some impact. 3rd place in the KWF European Championship 2017, and with that repeated what she did in 2016. been fighting for a long time, and have good experience from many different tournaments.
The total picture from the women`s division would be that it is a higher number of fighters, and we think the level is more even. Especially light and heavyweight have double up. Nations as Russia and Hungary took the victories last time, and that with very strong and merited fighters. So maybe the top level would be a notch lower this time, but counting in a higher number would in a kind way compensate for that, and not lower the interest. The road to the top will be hard.
Looking into the men`s divisions, and like the women’s divisions many interesting fighters. We starts with the men lightweight, and work our way up.
Men -65 kg Lightweight
Thirteen fighters in the line up, and with out a doubt some real good ones! Georgia is represented in this category, former European Champion and the world vice champion 2017 WKO ⇐Andrei Zinchenko. He did also win the Georgian national – open weight not long ago. This is really a strong accomplishment Naturally he will be one of the biggest favorites, but who will stand in his way? Sweden enters with two fighters, both good fighters with merits to back it up. Stefan Chervenko and Milad Samizade. Both has been representing the Swedish National team with several occasions.
Samizade ⇒ would be the one that most consider to be the biggest challenger to the top spot. Winner of several tournaments and runner up in U22 EC 2017 and EC U22 champion 2016. He has proven extremely talented to settle the matches before full time.Senechal Anthony FRA, would also be natural to count in. He has also been very active, fought in many tournaments and proven to be at a respectable level. Have met and fought the best, including the names above – and it could seems like that it will happen again. There is also several young up and coming fighters with good merits from their last junior tournaments, and it is possible that “new” names will advance in the tournament.
Men -75 kg Middleweight
The category have 29 fighters in the line up! This will be a very interesting category to follow. When the divisions begins to reach that number of fighters, one do have to have very good tournaments skills. Advance with less damage then others could be the factor in the end of the day.
We locate one fighter who attract us at once, Cristian Bolduţ , Romania. A veteran in the game, and a athlete with a Kumite and Kata record far beyond “good” Bolduţ has merits from fifteen years back, with Kumite and Kata results among top five in European Championships and Open tournaments.
As he has done many time, he will participate in both categories this time as well. How far he will make it in the Kumite part is hard to tell, but being the “senior” in the category he will bring in experience that other need some years to get.
A parallel to Bolduţ, could be Wesley Jansen⇒, NED. (picture from Dutch Open 2010, special award) He do also possess great skills in both disciples. And as far as we remember he did win the Diamond Cup Kata category back in 2014. This time the focus will be Kumite, and add even more experience to his all ready good base. Fights can be over quick, when the “shadow-less kicker” from Nederland enters the Tatemi. But Nederland have more than one fighter, Vadim Karvink will also be one that can advance in the tournament. Bulgaria with Lachezar Dimitrov, will be really interesting. He has been representing Bulgaria several times, and that alone is a merit. And besides open tournaments he has been represented Bulgaria in European Championship and in the World Championship open weight in Japan 2011, where he advanced to the second round. We can add that he did manage to win the EC U22 back in 2013, and since then it`s about stabilize in the senior categories.
Ali Hayder, Sweden delivered a strong last quarter of 2017. Runner up in the Branko Memorial and also runner up in the U22 European Championship. Good all rounder, and seems better and better for each time on the Tatemi – even so when it has been short time between tournaments.
We do believe that Hayder would have the capacity to reach the podium, but of course the draw will be a factor – and the one who will stop him must be at a high level too. Besides the mention names above, Spain and Belgium are strongly represented, and for sure the preliminary rounds can be very even in many cases.
Men Heavyweight -85 kg
Among the 24 fighters in this category, we do have some of the biggest profiles inn the tournament. A natural start would be to present the reign champion Yuto Eguchi from Japan. Last action 7th place at 49th All Japan Open this Autumn. Has been representing Japan several times, in World Championship Open-weight, or as this summer in weight categories. Another fighter was also in the 49th All Japan Open was Marek Wolny, Poland. Wolny has been very successful in 2017, besides being the national champion, he also took the Carpathia Cup 1st place, and 3rd place in the kwu world championship recently. Good all-rounder with well timed knees.
In this category also the northern countries are represented with four fighters. Sweden and Denmark have fighters from Shin and from Ashihara. Many are curios about the level from the different Ashihara fighters, and this lift the expectations. From Shin, we got more known names: Julian Bjerrekær (Denmark) and Rasmus Bergström (Sweden) Theses two are technical, young fighters on their way up. Last one, Bergström, made a very good 2017 where he captured the EC tittle U-22 and was also awarded best fighter. Runner up in the Branko Bosniak Memorial Tournament as well. Bergström did also make a good impression last edition of Diamond Cup, with two advancements.
Men Super Heavyweight + 85 kg
16 fighters from all over Europe, plus Russia, Kazakhstan and Japan. One thing fore sure, this is one of the strongest Danish team we have seen, not only in this category but in total. But lets focus on this category. Three fighters, Kristoffer Breindal – physically strong, can challenge most fighters in this line up, Faddy Allan ⇒, technically good with kicking technique that is well above average. Brian Jakobsen, smart tournament fighter, a solid veteran who always sees a solution to the challenges he faces on the Tatemi.
Yusaku Watanabe, Japan. Loses in the 2nd round to Daiki Kato 3-2, in the 49th All Japan Open 2017, good pressure in “Japanese” style and strong low-kicks in combination with strikes makes him hard to face. Russian fighter, Denis Morozevich, runner up in the Russian championship in 2017, and with experience from all over the world. Jan Van Beek, Nederland, strong Dutch fighter, good striking combos, and the liver is being involved in them – as any Dutch schooled fighter. Juan Crujeiras, Spain WKB fighter, took the Spanish Open – Copa Valencia tittle, did also reach the podium in the European Cup 2017, very active last year, and will continue his flow.
This edition of The Diamond Cup will be with out a doubt a great tournament. The mix with nations, styles and organizations and even styles makes it different from many other tournaments. The main difference from last time is that the impact from countries as Russia, Kazakhstan and Lithuania was a little sharper. A another thing is the good increase of the participant, and especially in the women’s classes.
…Diamond Cup 2018…It`s on!