The AKKA 2001 Full Contact Championships  

NEW RECORD FOR THE AKKA.

 

The 2001 AKKA 2001 Full Contact Championships were significant in the fact that five countries participated, including Australia and with 130 competitors in the draw it was the biggest event in Australian full contact history. It was going to be an enormous day.  The due to the great number of fights the judges were told that drawn decisions was not acceptable unless it was impossible to split the fighters, otherwise it would be impossible to get through the draw in one day. 

 

The day started with the Male Middleweight Colts Division, and the first semi final bout had Matt Wolnizer pitted against Luke Spaeth.  It was a very torrid affair but in the end it was left to the judges to decide between the two and the flags went up for Luke who then had to take on ACT’s Kyokushin fighter Justin Munro.  Justin won the same division in the non-contact event the day before so he was out to make it a double when he took on another Kyokushin fighter, Robbie Holland from the “Power Karate” Jim Phillips group, Robbie put a great fight but Justin was to strong for Robbie and won on a points decision. The final between Justin and Luke was certainly high in quality with two very good fighters, but Justin managed to score a full point for the win and become the first 2001 Colts Champion. 

 

The Heavyweight Colts was as just as exciting with four very strong colts lined up in the semis to do battle. Lewis Iginini from Sensei Jolyon Fosters Victorian Shidokan Karate Organization earlier had a very tough fight against Bondi Junction’s Arthur Grigolia, but now had to face an even stronger fighter in Emmanuel Guiffe from the Jim Phillips dojo. In true heavyweight style Lewis, and Emmanuel fought it out toe to toe not taking a step backward resulting in another hard decision for the judges. In what was a borderline decision the judges awarded the fight to Emmanuel. In the lower half of the Heavyweight Colts another of Sensei Jolyon Fosters fighters, Ricardo Barakat had the challenge of taking on the AKKA fighter, Mortiz Goll. It was a tough bout with Moritz taking the fight up to Ricardo, who had what Champions are made of and took all the Moritz could dish out to came back just as strong to win the fight on points.  The final between Ricardo and Emmanuel was a real no nonsense affair with both fighters giving everything they had. It was a very tired pair who heard the final bell with the judges going for Emanuel.

 

The final of the Lightweight Colts saw two AKKA fighters, Edward Ostrovsky taking on Sean Gorman. Sean had earlier taken on another AKKA fighter, Daniel Danilatos. Sean, even at his young age is a veteran of a number of IRKA Ring Karate events but had to call on all his experience to get a points decision over Daniel. As you would expect in a Lightweight final, it had very sharp fighters and although Edward put up a very determined attack, Sean again had too much experience for Edward pushing him into 2^nd place.

 

The tournament then went into the adult junior grades with the Female Lightweight 7^th Kyu Division. The final between Maria Colman from the very strong Unanderra AKKA Kyokushin dojo and a very good Crystal Wright from “Power Karate” Organization and Zac El Kheir’s Bathurst dojo. Crystal had earlier beaten Nerida Lister from the Janelle Fields ACT Kyokushin Karate group to meet Maria in the final and what a great final it was with two very good technicians who fought hard all the way to the final bell. The judges awarded the fight to Crystal but Maria can be proud of a very good effort.

 

Debbie Hicks from the George Kolovos dojo was certainly a worthy winner in the Female Middleweight 7^th Kyu Division, but first she had to get past another Victorian, Tyra Noonan, Tyra was certainly a hard nut to crack, and had earlier had a huge task to beat another very good “Power Karate” fighter, Karina Boscolo. Karina was certainly no pushover and Tyra was no doubt very happy to get a points win and see the back of a very good fighter. Debbie had the goods to take the fight to Trya and for the most part Trya was well able to handle the onslaught that Debbie produced. However must to come to an end and this was certainly one that had the officials scratching their heads when they had to pick a winner.

 

The Female 7^th Kyu Heavyweights saw the first Queenslander win a title with Janelle Madson from the Mike Wyville Kyokushin Ipswich dojo, in doing so she first had to beat one of Janelle Fields ACT. Kyokushin fighters, Shan Struconell, then face Merryn Spencer another of Janelle Fields fighters to take the title. It is hard to say if Shan in the semi final or Merryn in the final gave Janelle the toughest fight, but no doubt Janelle was relieved see the flags go up in her favour at the end of both fights.

 

The Male 7^th Kyu Division was full of very tough fighters, what they lacked in experience they certainly made up in courage and determination. When the smoke cleared we had the final four in the Lightweight Division.  Mitchell Bywater from the Bobby Faquhar’s very strong ACT Kempo School had the job of taking on Jun Takahashi from the AKKA and Tim Orders another of Bobby Farquhar’s very good fighters, had to match it with Kenichi Mori one of George Kolovos’s students.  Jun in true Japanese style took the fight to Mitchell but he was more than able to match the onslaught and gave Jun a lesson on how to stop a determined fighter.  When the judges had to make a decision it was Mitchell who got the nod.  In the other semi final Tim Orders looked very sharp with great technique but dropped his hands at just the wrong moment and found himself of the end of a very good roundhouse kick from Mori Kenichi with the result, a knockout win to Kenichi. The final between Kenichi and Mitchell was a hum dinger with neither fighter prepared to take a backward step but in the end Mitchell proved to be the stronger of the two and was awarded first place.

 

Simon Noble from the AKKA organization met Jason Moeke a New Zealand Kyokushin fighter in the Male Middleweight 7^th Kyu and Under Division. Simon had been very scrappy in his previous fight and no doubt Jason would have felt very confident in taking Simon on in this round but the first round had been a big learning curve for Simon and he came out looking much sharper and proved to be too strong for Jason who put in a good effort but was not able to match it with Simon. The other semi final was between Bruce Strakenburg from the Peter Mylonas Kempo School and Aric Ziommerle another fighter from the Bobby Farquhar ACT Kempo School. A great fight ensued and both fighters gave a display, which far outweighed their contact experience, and Bruce made it through to the final. Both Simon and Bruce now well in their stride and put up a fight that would have been considered good in the Open Divisions However, one has to lose and in this case it was Bruce.  

 

The Male 8^th Kyu Heavyweight was another action packed division with the first of the semi finals between Andrew Steynes one of the Tasmanian AKKA group who this year have produced their best team for many years. Andrew faced Stuart Adams another fighter from the very strong “Power Karate” club in Bathurst. Stuart had earlier won his way into the semi with one of the best knockouts of the day and everyone was waiting to see if he could reproduce the technique against the very sharp Andrew. Andrew however was too good for Stuart to get another knockout win and he had to be happy with a points win to take him into the final against the winner of the Paulo Ferreira from the Queensland Kyokushin organisation and Rupert Puels from the AKKA. An outstanding fight ensued between Rupert and Paulo. Rupert came through on a points win to be matched up with Stuart in the final. As one would expect in a final, it was an action packed fight, but in the end it was a point victory to Stuart and the Bathurst “Power Karate”.

 

The Female Heavyweight 6^th – 3^rd Kyu semi final was highlighted by a great bout between Karen Mathers who had just returned from Thailand were she was training in kickboxing and Michaela Grgurevic from the Geelong AKKA branch. These two females were certainly tough and neither took a step back. It was a hard-hitting barrage against each other and sad to say they must pick a winner and they opted for Michaela. Michaela had then to take on Rachel Stocks from the Murwillumbah AKKA group in the final. Again a very tough fight ensued, with the title in their sights neither of these fighters was going to go down without giving it all they had and a real slugging match followed but when the flags went up it was for Michaela in what must have been a tough decision for the judges.

 

The Male 6^th – 3^rd Kyu Division was equal to the female effort and started with the lightweight fighters Dean Khan, another good AKKA Tasmanian fighter who had to match it with Masayuki Sakamoto. Sakamoto, even at this grade is a very experienced knockdown fighter with a number of IRKA Ring Karate fights to his name. Although Dean stood his ground and matched it with Sakamoto, experience paid off for a win to Sakamoto. Chris Moir from the Darren Jordan AKKA organization was hell bent on making it to the final with Sakamoto as these two had met in a Ring Karate match which Sakamoto won and it seemed he was not going to let his semi final opponent Satoru Ushimichi from the AKKA get in his way, and Chris went for Satoru with a vengeance, but Satoru was certainly up to the task and gave as much as he took. However when the smoke cleared it was Satoru who was the winner. The final between Sakamoto and Satoru was a real classic with Satoru being the classic fighter with great head kicks and even better combinations and Sakamoto driving into Satoru with huge punches that would have decked a bull. Again a tough decision had to be made and the judges went for Sakamoto.

 

The Middleweight Male 6^th – 3^rd Kyu Division was just as exciting with Ronny La Spada from the Geelong AKKA matching it with Adam Roach from the Howard Lipman Kyokushin group. Adam was a very sharp fighter and even though Ronny put up a great effort, Adam proved to be the stronger of the two. The other semi was between Scott Kovacs from the ACT AKKA organization and AKKA Tasmanian, Steven Crack. The strong Tasmanian team was proving to be a real thorn in the side of the mainland fighters and Steven was no exception proving to strong for Scott. The final was to be a one-way affair with Adam outgunning Steven to take the match out in just 16 seconds.

 

The Heavyweight Male 6^th – 3^rd Kyu was as expected a tough no nonsense affair with the first of the semi finals between Parnos Munyard (Janelle Fields ACT Kyokushin) and at only 18 years of age he showed great maturity in taking the fight to John Iska of the Geelong AKKA group. However determination was not enough for Parnos and in the end John saw the flags go up for him. The next semi final had all the earmarks of a great fight and it proved to be just that when Damian Tsang from the Howard Lipman’s Kyokushin group was matched against the Bathurst “Power Karate” fighter John Sherwood.  Both of these fighters had done very well in last year’s event and everyone expected this fight to be a top-notch affair. No one was disappointed but in the end someone had to win and in this case it was John.

 

The Female 6^th – 3^rd Kyu Lightweight Division the bout between Sharon Boyle from the very hot Geelong AKKA team and Debbie Martin, another strong fighter from the “Power Karate” group final that had everything. These female could have participated in the “Open Division” they were so good and with neither able to get a knockout blow and the difficult decision of splitting them was left to the judges, but Sharon awarded the title.

 

The Female Middleweight 6^th – 3^rd Kyu Female Division final was just as difficult when The AKKA fighter Prue McSweeny, the 2000 winner of this division had to beat Willoe Freeman a Teakwon-Do fighter to retain her title for the second year in a row. Willoe was having her first attempt at a knockdown event.  Willoe was certainly not put off fighting the champion and was very happy to take the fight up to Prue. A very tough match ensued, but Prue was not the champion for nothing and pulled out all stops to take out the bout.

 

The Female Open Lightweight semi Finals started with a bout between the very experienced Kiley Baker from the George Kolovos dojo and Sandra Smith from Howard Lipman’s Kyokushin group. This bout was well worth the entry fee on its own and two very determined fighters refused to take a backward step. When the dust finally settled and neither fighter had scored a winning blow, the flags went up for Sandra.  She then had to take on one of the strong females from the “Power Karate” group, Sheryl Chamberlain, Sheryl has fought in a number of AKKA Open Championships and had the added advantage of her semi final opponent withdrawing and giving her free ride into the final.  All was set for a great final and no one was disappointed with a real “no beg your pardons” affair. Again it was left to the judges to split the two, and went up for Sheryl.

 

The Male Lightweight Open Division saw Tassie Sinclair a Wado fighter from England participating. Tassie certainly did it the hard way, with no contact experience and not much idea of the rules deciding to make the trip to participate in the Australian Open Championships.  Sadly when fighters are under pressure they tend to do what comes naturally, and in this case his bout with the AKKA and International Ring Karate Champion Jim Sklavos put him under huge pressure.  Tassie put up a great fight but unfortunately punched Jim in the throat twice and was disqualified, which was a great pity as Tassie had shown a lot of fighting skill that suggest that he could be a very good knock-down fighter. Jim Sklavos withdrew from his semi final bout with Luke Argento from the Geelong AKKA group who then went directly through to the finals.  The other semi final was between Mark Long another Kyokushin fighter from the Howard Lipman group and the AKKA fighter from the ACT, Glen Gibbons. Glen had earlier beaten Luke Trotz, a very improved fighter from the Peter Mylonas Kempo Ryu organization. Luke has been in a number of AKKA Knockdown events and he had certainly been working hard for this tournament, Glen had to work overtime to beat Luke in a close bout. Glen however was not up to the task of beating Mark Long who went through to meet Luke Argento in the finals.  As you would expect in a final it was hard and tough from the first bell but Mark had enough in the bag to get the flags.

 

The Female Open Middleweight Division was also a very hard fought division. The first of the semi finals was between the current AKKA and Kyokushin World Champion, Naomi Wood and very good Astrid Davis from the Jim Phillips “Power Karate” group. Astrid was not put off by Naomi’s reputation and went straight on the attack. Naomi however is not the World Champion without good reason and bided her time waiting for the determined attack from Astrid to fade.  But when it did not Naomi had to lift a gear and take the fight to Astrid. It went to the judges for a decision, and unable to split the two fighters they put them into an extension, in the extension. In the end both fighter could get the decisive score and once again it was put to the judges who thought Naomi had done enough to get the flags in her favour. The other semi final in this division was between the 2000 runner up in the Heavyweight Division of the Kyokushin World Championships, Belgium’s Peggy Groesser. Peggy had to take on the AKKA fighter from Parkes, Michele Harmer. Michele was not put off by Peggy’s reputation and decided that the best way was to attack and that was just what she did. Peggy however is a very strong fighter as you would expect from a world Champion 2^nd place-getter and returned as much as Michele gave. Michele however would not be stopped and in spite of the strong fight put up by Peggy it was not enough and the judges went for Michele.  The Michele Harmer and Naomi Woods final was a bout well worthy of a Australian title with both girls holding nothing back. Naomi scored with a front kick to the body for a half point score, and then repeated the technique for another half point and a win the Naomi.

 

The Male Open Middleweight Division was just as exciting as the female division and was further highlighted by the inclusion of the Japanese fighter, Tomuya Tusa and two Hungarian fighters in Zsolts Zsiga and Istvan Lenart. Tomuya had managed to get into the semis with a hard fought bout against the AKKA fighter Brett Grenfell who put up a great effort against a much more experienced opponent, Brett will no doubt be force to be reckoned with after such a great effort in this years event.  Tomuya now had to take on the in form Victorian AKKA fighter, Dean Hinch.  Dean, in the previous round had the job of defeating the very good Hungarian Zsolt Zsiga, Dean came out with all guns blazing, but Zsolt gave as good as he got and neither fighter could score a decisive point, it was left to the judges to split the two. In a very close bout the judges went for Dean, who now had to defeat Tomuya to get a place in the final. Meanwhile at the other end of the draw, Istvan Lenart the other Hungarian fighter had defeated Shane Cuncliffe, the stable mate of Brett Grenfell Shane proved as tough an opponent for Istvan as Brett had be to Tomuya and again it was a real tussle for the judges make a decision. Again it was the Australian who lost and Istvan went into the semis for a match with Australian top seed in the division, “Power Karate” fighter Graeme Rose.  Graeme however proved to strong for Istvan who put up a great fight but could not match Graeme who won on the flags. It was a Graeme Rose vs. Dean Hinch final. Again Dean put up a great fight but once more Graeme proved to strong for his opponent and won a points decision.

 

With only two fighters in the Female Heavyweight Open final they had to wait all day for their chance.  Shobha Harinran a very experienced fighter from the George Kolovos dojo was up against the AKKA fighter Caroline Cox. Caroline had agreed to move up from the green belt division and fight in the Open division to ensure that Sobha actually had an opponent to fight. Although Caroline had a much more experienced fighter to beat she did not let this put her off and stood her ground against her much stronger opponent. Shobha however was not to be stopped by the determination of Caroline and her class soon had Caroline on the back foot. Caroline was not going to give up the fight and took the bout to the flags, which went up in the favour of Shobha.

 

A fight outside the semis, which is worth mentioning in the Male Open Heavyweight division, was the bout between the Northern Japan Champion Takeya Takaoko and Phil Jacobsen in the Male Open Heavyweight Division. Takeya had earlier beaten George Pudja the ACT AKKA fighter George had given Takeya a very hard task in getting through the round and Takeya now had to face a very good and experienced fighter in Phil Jacobsen. Phil who trains with George Kolovos was certainly up to the task and it became a matter of tactics as much as skill. Takeya was going for the “one big hit” approach and Phil the “hit em as many times as you can” tactic.  It became another opportunity for the judges to scratch their heads when the referee asks for a decision. I guess they went of the more hits tactic and the flags went up for Phil and a very disappointed Takeya left the mat.  Another great fight outside the semis was the Heavyweight Open match in the last eight between Geoff Hyde from the very well prepared ACT Kempo organization Geoff was certainly well prepared. It takes a lot to impress the Kyokushin officials but Geoff certainly did that when he took on one of the most experienced fighters in the event in Edward Sorensen. Edward won but not until he had to call on all of his experience to secure a win on the flags.  Phil Cox who had represented AKKA in the 2000 World Kyokushin Full Contact Championships had fought his way into the semis by defeating Aporo Miria. Aporo was a late entry and had never fought in a Kyokushin event. He was still learning the rules as he walked on to the mat. In the previous round Aporo defeated the AKKA fighter Andrew Meredith in a very tough encounter. Nevertheless he put up a great fight against the very experienced Phil Cox to take the fight to the flags and to lose on a point’s decision under those circumstances was a great effort. Another effort outside the semis that should not be forgotten was the bout between Clint Cavanagh and from the “Power Karate” group and the very powerful Hungarian fighter Peter Vamosi.  Clint who is still a yellow belt decided to his credit to give the Open division a go this year and put up a huge effort to take the Hungarian to the flags. However determination was not enough for Clint to win and the flags went up for Peter.  Peter then had to take on the AKKA fighter Serguei Dmitrieu. Again another fight worthy of the final ensued but Peter could not match the huge body blows that Serguei was landing and the judges gave it to Serguei.  The first semi between Edward Sorenson and Phil Cox was certainly worthy of the final, but Edward proved to good for Phil who went to the mat with a low kick to the leg for a win to Edward.  Serguei was now to face Phil Jacobsen for as place in the final. A hard punching fight followed and in the end it was Serguei that got the flags for a point win. The heavyweight final proved worthy of the last fight of the day and both Edward and Serguei held nothing back but the bout was so close that it had to be taken to an extension, even in the extension there was nothing to separate the two fighters but the judges are required to make a decision and they went for Edward.  There is no doubt that there is a great talent and depth in the Kyokushin groups, which was evident in the talent on display and this event was to selection tournament for the Kyokushin World Cup in Florida and no doubt the team would be very much stronger had the selectors been able to pick from all of the Kyokushin fighters instead of just the AKKA fighters. The results of the 2001 AKKA Open Full-Contact Karate Championships are as follows:

 

Shihan John Taylor

 

Results:

Male Lightweight Colts

1^st Sean Gorman    

2^nd Edward Ostrovsky             

3^rd Daniel Danilatos

Male Middleweight Colts

1^st Justin Munro

2^nd Luke Spaeth

3^rd Robbie Holland

Male Heavyweight Colt

1^st Emmanuel Guiffe

2^nd Riccardo Barakat

3^rd Moritz Goll & Lewis Igini

Female Lightweight 7^th Kyu & Under Division

1^st Cristal Wright

2^nd Maria Coleman

3^rd Nerida Lister

Male Lightweight 7^th Kyu & Under Division

1^st Mitchell Bywater

2^nd Kenichi Mori

3^rd Tim Orders & Jun Takahashi

Female Middleweight 7^th Kyu & Under Division

1^st Debbie Hicks

2^nd Tyran Noonan

3^rd Karina Bosca

Male Middleweight 7^th Kyu & Under Division

1^st Simon Noble

2^nd Bruce Strakenburg

3^rd Jason Moeke & Aric Zimmerle

Female Heavyweight 7^th Kyu & Under Division

1^st Janelle Madson

2^nd Merryn Spence

3^rd Shan Struconell

Male Heavyweight 7^th Kyu & Under Division

1^st Stuart Adams

2^nd Rupert Puels

3^rd Paulo Ferreira & Andrew Stynes

Female Lightweight 6^th – 3^rd Kyu Division

1^st Sharron Boyle

2^nd Debbie Martin

Male Lightweight 6^th – 3^rd Kyu Division

1^st Masayuki Sakamoto

2^nd Satoru Ushimichi

3^rd Chris Moir & Dean Khan

Female Middleweight 6^th – 3^rd Kyu Division

1^st Prue McSweeney

2^nd Willoe Freeman

Male Middleweight 6^th – 3^rd Kyu Division

1^st Adam Roach

2^nd Steven Crack

3^rd Scott Kovacs & Ronny La Spade

Female Heavyweight 6^th – 3^rd Kyu Division

1^st Rachel Stocks

2^nd Michaela Grgurevic

3^rd Karen Mathers

Male Heavyweight 6^th – 3^rd Kyu Division

1^st John Iskra

2^nd John Sherman

3^rd Damien Stang & Parnos Munyard

Female Lightweight Open Division

1^st Sherly Chamberlain

2^nd Sandra Smith

3^rd Kiley Baker

Male Lightweight Open Division

1^st Mark Long

2^nd Luke Argento

3^rd Glenn Gibbons & Jim Sklavos

Female Middleweight Open Division

1^st Naomi Wood

2^nd Michelle Harmer

3^rd Peggy Groesser & Astrid Davis

Male Middleweight Open Division

1^st Greame Rose

2^nd Dean Hinch

3^rd Istvan Lenart & Tomuya Tusa

Female Heavyweight Open Division

1^st Shobha Harinaran

2^nd Caroline Cox

Male Heavyweight Open Division

1^st Edward Sorenson

2^nd Serguei Dmitrieu

3^rd Phil Cox & Phil Jacobsen

 

AKKA Home Page -Hanshi Taylor

 

YKK says 'Thank you, to Hanshi Taylor ' for this article

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