2nd KWU World Championships Khabarovsk 2015 video available now:

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As part of the unification KWU World Championships the following accompanying events were held:

30.09 to 2.10 - International Course for judges/referees with the participation of 42 participants,

02.10 - the ceremonial planting of peace trees in the Avenue of Peace and Alliance in Khabarovsk Park in presence of local TV, radio and press. KWU President Yuri Trutnev, President WKO Kenji Midori and Governor of Khabarovsk gave some speeches. There was also planted The Tree of Sosai Mas. Oyama by Shihan Y. Trutnev, Shihan S. Arneil, Shihan K. Midori, Shihan H. Royama and Shihan A. Drewniak. Then, their individual trees planted: Shihan Y. Trutnev, Shihan L. Hollander, Shihan S. Arneil, Shihan H. Royama, Shihan K. Midori Shihan A. Pinero, Shihan A. Drewniak and Shihan D. Pickthall.

01-03.10 - having in mind the unity of Kyokushin, three several-hour meetings were held in the office of the Governor. They were chaired by the President of KWU Y. Trutnev. and representatives of world Kyokushin organizations participated in them. After that thay all had a friendly party. During the meetings they talked about many aspects concerning several years' effort of Kyokushin to enter the Olympic Games. A decision was made to coordinate all efforts, invite other world Kyokushin organizations, and lobby the idea through the National Olympic Committees.

04.10 morning - within the frameworks of the program TIME TO BE UNITED in the Office of the Governor there was held a ceremony of signing the Agreement of Cooperation between KWU and KWO. The document was ratified by KWU President Y. Trutnev and WKO President K. Midori. This was followed by a press conference and internal party during which all VIP  received diplomas from KWO.

Behind the scenes there was held a number of informal meetings, which confirmed the need for a worldwide unification across party lines to bring the Kyokushin to the Olympic family of sports, in spite of many difficulties.

It was a nice surprise when we heard the statement of the President KWU Y. Trutnev who said Kyokushin formed its own unshakeable character thanks to training sessions and camps organized in Bulgaria, Poland and Russia, which were ran Shihan A. Drewniak.

- KWU President Y. Trutnev, KWF President L. Hollander, WKO President K. Midori, IFK President S. Arneil and KKI President H. Royama repeatedly emphasized that regardless of the final result, the work done in order to reach unification will pay off for the whole Kyokushin.

GALLERY

3-4 October 2015 in Metropilitan Arena (which is a copy of the Bercy Hall in Paris) 3-4 October 2015 in Khabarovsk the second unification Kyokushin World Championship were organized with participation of 255 fighters from 46 countries. This great event was comparable to the Olympic Games. The event was prepared very professionally and the audience had a chance to appreciate the advantage of lightings settings, cameras, live broadcast (e.g. replays in slow motion of the most interesting elements of fights). It all gave satisfaction to more than five thousand spectators and countless viewers of the event who followed live broadcast on the Internet.

The organizers took care of the participants and their accompanying parties already in Moscow on 30 September, and from there three large planes transported them to Khabarovsk located in the time zone of Japan. There, on 1 October, 8 buses repainted in the colors of the championships were escorted by the police and took everyone to the Riviera Convention Center. October 2 was devoted to active rest i.e. morning warm-up, sightseeing, medical checkups, organizational issues and an organizational general meeting for all competitors, judges and organizers.

On the first day of the Championship, October 3, qualifications fights were held on two mats. The fights were full of surprises. On the second day there was a spectacular opening ceremony (symphony orchestra, professional dancers and mimes doing their show referring to the Japanese martial arts). The most impressing show was prepared by the famous Japanese Taiko drum group "Yamato" who implemented a lot of visual effects. The official opening of the World Championships and raise of the KWU flag was executed by the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Yuri Trutniev, President KWF Loek Hollander, President IKF Steve Arneil, President KKI Hatsuo Royama and President WKO Kenji Midori. The face of the Championships was a famous actor Dolph Lundgren, who supports the initiative of TIME TO BE UNITED.

The 14 final fights took place on one mat. They were dominated by Russians and Japanese fighters.

Also the awards were given to the contestants in a very nice atmosphere. The awards were presented by the Governor of Khabarovsk, Minister of Sports, the aforementioned shihans and shihan Antonio Pinero, shihan Andre Drewniak, shihan D. Pickthall and shihan K. Sugekawa.

After that there was held a solemn Sayonara in the Riviera Center where participants received films with their fights and best championship spots.

The costs of air travel and accommodation of all participants in Khabarovsk were covered by the Kyokushin World Union.

A local and central TV stations, radio and press informed about the course of events and accompanying other events for two days.

GALLERY

TIME TO BE UNITED - TIME FOR UNIFICATION
3-4 October 2015 in Khabarovsk the second unification Kyokushin World Championships were organized by Kyokushin World Union. In the event, taken under the banner TIME TO BE UNITED, 255 participants from 46 countries represented the five largest organizations in the Kyokushin world: KKI - shihan Royama, IFK - shihan Arneil, KWF - shihan Hollander , AKR - Shihan Trutnev and WKO - shihan Midorii, who invited 12 fighters from each of the organizations to participate in the World Cup in Tokyo in November 2015. The above-mentioned organizations are ready to cooperate in order to enter the Olympic Games. Shihan Matsui in talks with shihan Trutniev did not rule out the idea of cooperating with the other organizations to reach our aim i.e. enter the Olympics. The first emphatic gesture was when the IKO invited shihan Tanaka's clubs (KWF) and other organizations to participate in competitions for children. Today everyone already knows that none of the world organization unites more than 10-15% of practitioners, so to achieve a long-term objective cooperation is needed and inclusion of smaller Kyokushin organization in the second stage.

14-15 September 2015 Secretary Andre Drewniak led the KWF seminar in Moscow with participation above 50 kyokushin students from Moscow and instructors from above cities including Lider Russian Kyokushin Federation shihan Sergey Soldatov. During the meeting with the instructors one moved many international and national problems connected with preparations to unification World Kyokushin Championships, European Championship, Russian and Regional Championship and also improvements of the system of trainings, camps and international collaboration. Sayonara took place in the representative sauna.