W.A.K.O. World Championships 2005 (Szeged)

W.A.K.O. World Championships 2005 (Szeged)
The poster for W.A.K.O. World Championships 2005 (Szeged)
Promotion	W.A.K.O.
Date	28 November (Start) 5 December 2005 (End)
Venue	Városi Sportcsarnok
City	Szeged, Hungary
Attendance	4,000
Event chronology
W.A.K.O. World Championships 2005 (Agadir) W.A.K.O. World Championships 2005 (Szeged) W.A.K.O. European Championships 2006 (Lisbon)

W.A.K.O. World Championships 2005 in Szeged were the joint fifteenth world championships held by the W.A.K.O. organization and the third ever to be held in Hungary - with the other event having been held a couple of months earlier in Agadir, Morocco. The championships in Szeged were open to amateur men and women from across the world with around 720 athletes from 48 countries across five continents taking part.^[1]

There were four styles on offer at Szeged; Full-Contact, Light-Contact, Semi-Contact and Aero-Kickboxing. The other styles (Low-Kick, Thai-Boxing and Musical Forms) were held at the Agadir event. By the end of the championships, Russia were the strongest nation overall, followed closely by hosts Hungary, with Italy in third place. The event was held at the Városi Sportcsarnok in Szeged, Hungary on Monday, 28 November to Monday, 5 December 2005 in front of a crowd of around 4,000.^[2]

There were around 48 nations from five continents across the world participating at the 2005 W.A.K.O. World Championships in Szeged including:^[3]

Full-Contact is a form of kickboxing where the contestants are allowed to throw punches and kicks at full force at legal targets above the waist. Victories are usually achieved via a point's decision or referee stoppage (e.g. KO/TKO) and as with most other forms of amateur kickboxing, all participants must wear the required head and body protection. More information on Full-Contact kickboxing and the rules can be found on the official W.A.K.O. website.^[4] Both men and women had competitions at Szegad, with the men having twelve weight divisions ranging from 51 kg/112.2 lbs to over 91 kg/+200.2 lbs and the women seven, ranging from 48 kg/105.6 lbs to over 70 kg/+143 lbs.

Despite there not being as many familiar faces taking part in the style as in the past, there were a number of double winners who had won at the last European championships in Budva, with Zurab Faroyan and Daniel Martins picking up gold medals. There were also several winners who had won at the 2003 world championships in Paris with Jere Reinikainen and Karolina Lukasik winning gold, while Igor Kulbaev did even better by picking up his third gold medal in a row at a W.A.K.O. championships having also won at Budva and Paris. Regular leaders Russia were once again the top nation in Full-Contact, winning six gold, four silver and five bronze medals in both the male and female categories.^[5][6]

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Light Bantamweight -51 kg	Iwan Bityutskikh	Almhid Mntsar	Joaquín Céspedes Salas Amir Tnalin
Bantamweight -54 kg	Gabor Aburko	Igor Pavlenko	Mokhmad Betmirzaev Tomasz Makowski
Featherweight -57 kg	Zurab Faroyan	Rkaibi Mounir	Nurbolat Rysmagambetov Hosseim Azimi Zamen
Lightweight -60 kg	Daniel Martins	Sandor Kornel	Zlatomir Dimitrov Evgeniy Khil
Light Welterweight -63.5 kg	Arild Mikarlsen	Biagio Tralli	Olexandr Gibert Abdukhalim Bakhtiyev
Welterweight -67 kg	Jere Reinikainen	Eldin Raonic	Michelle Manzoni Pavel Tarik
Light Middleweight -71 kg	Igor Kulbaev	Mariusz Ziętek	Dmytro Yatskov Robert Arvai
Middleweight -75 kg	Azamat Belgibaev	Mhiyaoui Azzeddine	Martin Nachev Manuchari Pipiya
Light Heavyweight -81 kg	Denis Grachev	Mamadou Traoré	David Nogode Almat Serimon
Cruiserweight -86 kg	Stephen Thompson	Sergey Bodgan	Jonathan Gromark Mairis Briedis
Heavyweight -91 kg	Denys Simkin	Marko Tomasović	Yerzhan Shegenov Balazs Varga
Super Heavyweight +91 kg	Yuri Abramov	Michal Wszelak	Kenan Akbulat Jukka Saarinen

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
-48 kg	Valeria Calabrese	Jenny Hardingz	Helena Kalinowski Nawal Bouzlaf
-52 kg	Fatma Akyüz	Anna Krivoguzova	Maris Joeveer Mette Solli
-56 kg	Zsuzsanna Szuknai	Lidia Andreeva	Jutta Nordberg Natalie Kalinowski
-60 kg	Monika Florek	Olga Zyk	Valeriya Kurlyuk Sanja Samardzic
-65 kg	Vera Avdeeva	Anne Katas	Chiara Mandelli Rita Parkanyi
-70 kg	Karolina Lukasik	Nives Radic	Elena Solareva Tetyana Ivashchenko
+70 kg	Samira El Haddad	Jenna Droluk	Adina Cocieru Galina Ivanova

Light-Contact is a form of kickboxing where the contestants can aim kicks and punches thrown with moderate force at legal targets above the waist. It is less physical than Full-Contact but more so than Semi-Contact and is often seen as a transitional stage by fighters wishing to eventually move on to fully physical competition. Most fights are settled by a point's decision although stoppages can occur and like with other forms of amateur kickboxing, head and body protection must be worn. More information on Light-Contact can be found at the W.A.K.O. website.^[7] At Szeged the men had nine weight divisions ranging from 57 kg/125.4 lbs to over 94 kg/+206.8 lbs while the women had six, ranging from 50 kg/110 lbs to over 70 kg/154 lbs.

While not full of Nnticeable names there were a few stand out winners in Light-Contact with James Stewart and Tonje Sørlie winning two gold medals at the same championships (they would win in Semi-Contact as well) and regular winners Zoltan Dancso, Klara Morton and Nusa Rajher also picking up winners medals. By the end of the event Hungary were the strongest country in Light-Contact, winning four gold, four silver and two bronze medals.^[8][9]

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
-57 kg	Maxim Aysin	Dezső Debreczeni	Bakyttay Aukenov Przemyslaw Rekowski
-63 kg	Evgeny Mayer	Sándor Szántó	Bengt Karlsson Kostyantyn Demoretskyy
-69 kg	Ruslan Ishmakov	Gregory Larbi	Rudolf Grega Timur Hamidullin
-74 kg	Ales Zemljic	Jerzy Wronski	Mario Butschkat Oliver Stricz
-79 kg	Zoltan Dancso	Christophe Touzeau	Konstantin Seitov Andrea Primitivi
-84 kg	Jeno Novak	Mariusz Niziolek	Fabian Fingerhut Marat Pukhaev
-89 kg	Michael Reinbold	Gavin Williamson	Wojciech Myslinski Tibor Wappel
-94 kg	Christian Schulz	Agostino Pavesi	Vladimir Celar Bartłomiej Bocian
+94 kg	James Stewart	Rishat Kabirov	Merlin Gehrt Mark Graden

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
-50 kg	Reka Krempf	Alexandra Kibanova	Heidi Williamsson Florence Zaaboula
-55 kg	Tonje Sørlie	Roxane Laszak	Christina McMahon Żaneta Cieśla
-60 kg	Klara Marton	Julie McHale	Julia Göldner Sara Reale
-65 kg	Katarzyna Furmaniak	Marianna Hudak	Sabina Sehic Louise Dixon
-70 kg	Nusa Rajher	Ivett Pruzsinszky	Katja Moehle Karoline Ek
+70 kg	Mieke Hink	Oxana Kinakh	Stefanie Hildebrandt Szabina Domokos

Semi-Contact is a form of kickboxing where the contestants are allowed to punch and kick one another at legal targets above the waist with minimal force being applied. Almost all matches are settled by a point's decision with the judges scoring on the basis of speed, technique and skill with power prohibited. Despite the less physical nature of the style, various head and body protection is mandatory. More information on Semi-Contact can be found at the W.A.K.O. website.^[10] As with Light-Contact the men had nine weight divisions ranging from 57 kg/125.4 lbs to over 94 kg/+206.8 lbs while the women had six, ranging from 50 kg/110 lbs to over 70 kg/154 lbs.

Although not exactly full of glamorous names there were nevertheless several notable winners in Semi-Contact with James Stewart and Tonje Sørlie winning two gold medals at the same championships (they would win in Light-Contact as well) and regular winners Dezső Debreczeni, Gregorio Di Leo (third gold medal in a row) and Luisa Lico also picking up winners medals. By the end of the championships, as with Light-Contact, Hungary were the strongest nation in Semi-Contact beating stiff competition from Italy, winning three golds, three silvers and two bronze medals.^[11][12]

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
-57 kg	Dezső Debreczeni	Maxim Aysin	Miroslav Grgic Piotr Bakowski
-63 kg	Adriano Passoro	Viktor Hirsch	Robert Haugh Philippe Rossi
-69 kg	Gregorio Di Leo	Christian Boujibar	Krisztian Jaroszkievicz Daniel Harrison
-74 kg	Alexander Lane	Jacey Cashman	Robert McMenamy Bjorn Baert
-79 kg	Jason Brown	Kurt Baert	Neri Stella Faton Rexhaj
-84 kg	Zvonimir Gribl	Robert Knödelseder	Christoph Steinlechner Drew Neal
-89 kg	Peter Ciskos	Joseph Greenhalgh	Marko Desa David Heffernan
-94 kg	Pero Gazilj	Colin O'Shaughnessy	Andrea Ongaro Mark Brown
+94 kg	James Stewart	Daniel Haendel	Marco Culiersi Seppi Patterer

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
-50 kg	Fadeeva Svetlana	Samantha Aquilano	Reka Krempf Andreja Ivas
-55 kg	Tonje Sørlie	Betty Kovacs	Dorota Godzina Galani Panagiota
-60 kg	Luisa Lico	Carolin Pitzke	Christina Szytenchelm Vedrana Halincic
-65 kg	Elaine Small	Barbara Szendrei	Patricia Berlingieri Lisa Boardman
-70 kg	Natalie Cassidy	Ana Znaor	Ivett Pruzsinszky Adelaide Callegari
+70 kg	Barbara Kovacs	Oxana Kinakh	Sonya Coakley-Hanan Romina Succi

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Ranking	Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1	Russia	10	9	6
2	Hungary	9	8	7
3	Italy	4	3	9
4	Poland	3	4	9
5	Germany	3	3	10

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

• WAKO World Association of Kickboxing Organizations Official Site Archived 7 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine