A real feast for kyokushin fans was held on last Saturday. On the 22nd of February, in Tokyo's Nippon Budokan the Ichigeki Event took place. Following kyokushin stars were present: Alexandre Pichkunov, Glaube Feitosa, Ryuta Noji, Garry O'Neill and others. More than 6000 spectators came to see the fights.
Two european fighters has been invited to participate in the event: 2001 Middle Weight Category World Champion - Emil Kostov from Bulgaria and 1997 Light Weight Category World Champion - Piotr Sawicki from Poland. The second one however could not confirm his attendance in Tokyo.
Karate One Match Fights Results:
Riyuji Isobe - Brazil vs Tomohiko Matsuoka - Japan (draw)
The first and probably the most spectacular One Match Fight. Both fighters presented an excellent technique, speed and determination. Although Isobe tried his amazing ushiro mawashi geri many times, he did not manage to reach Matsumoto. After all the match was equal and so the judges decided to announce the draw.
(winner) Emil Kostov - Bulgaria vs Hiroyuki Kidachi - Japan
“The revenge for the World Weight Category Championships Osaka 2001”
– this is how the match beetwen Emil Kostov from Bulgaria and Hiroyuki Kidachi from Japan could be named.
In the first three minutes fighters were trying to read each other’s mind. Their punches and kicks were reasonable and calm. While the first round was rather equal, in the second round after Kostov’s powerful gedan mawashi geri Kidachi felt down and Bulgarian’s advantage started to appear. Kidachi’s punches seemed not to impress well prepared european fighter. When in the final round Kostov’s advantage was more and more visible he made the Japanese fall again after his inner low kick. The spectators, seeing their fighter beeing in trouble, started shouting: “Ki-da-chi, Ki-da-chi”, but it did not help. After all there was no wazari or ippon, but Kostov’s strength advantage
and determination made the judges had no bigger problems with showing him as a winner.
Asked about the forthcoming World Openweight Category Championships Kostov said: “I can’t answer now. There is still about 9 months to decide. I don’t know yet if I will fight in November. So far the most important for me were the World Weight Category Championships in 2001. I won and I am satisfied. But I will think about it...”
(winner) Ewerton Teixeira - Brazil vs Tatsuya Kato Japan
The third One Match Fight between new rising Brasilian star – Ewerton Teixeira and Tatsuya Kato from Japan was also very interesting. Both fighters seemed to be equally strong. Teixeira however known from never giving up showed stronger spirit. Finally Kato lost after receiving genten ichi for grabbing the opponent.
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