Wednesday, October 23, 2013 – It was the day of semi-final competition for kickboxing disciplines at the World Combat Games in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Winners today would move into the final medal round and a chance at becoming declared the World Combat Games gold medalist. Only 4 competitors remained in each discipline and the competition was becoming more fierce.

 

POINT FIGHTING

In point fighting, the Irish had dominated in the quarter-finals with four competitors moving into the semi-finals. The Italians were following on Ireland’s heels with three competitors advancing. Hungarians Richard Veres and Laszlo Gombos were also in the running in their respective divisions.

On the tatami battling it out in the first of the point fighting semi finals, Ireland’s Shauna Bannon took an impressive victory over Nadi Bayett of South Africa with a scoreline of 8-3 to seal her place in the final of the ladies -60kg division. Making it even more special for Bannon is that it is her 20th birthday – and it was quite the present she gave herself. For the Italians, Gloria DeBei claimed the narrowest of victories of 1 point against Belgium’s Evelyn Neyens.

The -63kg mens point fighting was up next on the tatami with Hungarian favorite Richard Veres beating South Africa’s Ryan Phillips by a maximum score ending the fight early at 11-1. His opposition in the medal round will be Adriano Passaro of Italy, the same man he faced in the finals of the WAKO European Championships to qualify for the World Combat Games. Passaro advanced after beating Ireland’s Dessie Leonard in a match that had to go to 1 minute of extra time to decide a winner. The final score was 13-12 to the Italian.

In the -74kg division Laszlo Gombos of Hungary won with a score of 12-6 over Slovenian Tilen Zajc. Gombos will face his old adversary Mark McDermott who defeated his South African opponent, Sufyaan Moratt with a score of 11-6. This will set up another rematch from the 2012 WAKO European Championships where Gombos took the win.

The ladies’ favorite, dreamboat Ireland’s Robbie McMenamy was next on the tatami against Tuem Alah Raed Abdul of Jordan who posed no trouble for the European champion as McMenamey easily won by the spread with an 11-1 score. Stella Neri of Italy was not to be outdone and also took a maximum score win over Daniel Colorado of Mexico, with a final score of 12-2.

The point fighting medal rounds for Friday, October 25, 2013 will consist of the following match-ups:

Women: Shauna Bannon (Ireland) vs Gloria de Bei (Italy)

-63kg Men: Richard Veres (Hungary) vs Adriano Passaro (Italy)

-74kg Men: Laszlo Gombos (Hungary) vs Mark McDermott (Ireland)

-84kg Men: Robbie McMenamey (Ireland) vs Neri Stella (Italy)

 

LOW KICK/FULL CONTACT

As expected, the Russians dominated in both low kick and full contact fighting. Only one Russian fighter was unable to advance to the final round. Sergei Lipinetc led the way for the Russias with a unanimous decision over William Saidi of France. Lipinetc will have a tough final on Friday when he faces Hungarian Gabor Gorbics who won by KO over Ahmed Mufih Aljhran Akram of Jordan. In the -71kg division Russia’s Nikita Selyanskiy gave the Russians another full contact win. He will face Jordan’s Ahmed Ali Khalaf Hasan who defeated USA fighter Jose Mariscal by unanimous decision. The big guys were up next in the -91kg division where German Eugen Waigel and Russian Aleksandr Dmitrienko secured their final spots again both in unanimous decisions over Iran and Kazakstan respectively.

Twins Thi Tuyet Dung Nguyen and Thi Tuyet Mai Nguyen both had advanced through the quarter-finals in low kick and full contact respectively. Although Thi Tuyet Dung Nguyen was eliminated in low kick at the hands of Anna Poskrebysheva of Russia, her sister pulled off an upset by defeating the favorite Camilla Viksten of Finland in full contact. Nguyen will have her hands full facing the formidable Tonje Sorlie of Norway in the medal round. Sorlie came out strong to show why she is the current WAKO world champion and took the victory 3-0 over Sdassi Lamyae of Morocco. Poskrebysheva will fight against Turkey’s Zehra Gulgen in Friday’s final.

In men’s low kick  Turkey took on Iran in the -67kg category. It was a close match up and went to a split decision with the Iranian Seyyedmasoud Derekeh edging out with the victory. Another Russian has made it to the finals to face him, Shamil Abdulmedzhidov, who won 3-0 over his Ukrainian opponent. The Russians kept on their winning streak with Khasan Khaliev defeating Khasankhon Baratov 3-0 in the first of the -75kg weight division semi-final matches. Against him in the final will be Brazil’s Tadeu Da San Martino who could only manage a split decision win over Kadir Tastan of Turkey.

The last division of the day was the -81kg weight class with Bosnia’s Igor Emkic taking the days only victory over a Russian, beating Aleksandr Drobinin 3-0. In the final against him will be the Turkish fighter Serhat Degemenci who took away Brazil’s last chance at a gold medal when he defeated Fernando Dos Santos to end the day’s fighting.

The low kick medals rounds for Friday, October 25, 2013 will consist of:

Women: Anna Poskrebysheva (Russia) vs Zehra Gulgen (Turkey)

-67kg Men: Seyyedmasoud Derekeh (Iraq) vs Shamil Abdulmedzhidov (Russia)

-75kg Men: Khasan Khaliev (Russia) vs Tadeu da San Martino (Brazil)

-81kg Men: Igor Emkic (Bosnia) vs Serhat Degermenci (Turkey)

The full contact medal rounds for Friday, October 25, 2013 will consist of:

Women: Tonje Sorlie (Norway) vs Thi Tuyet Mai Nguyen (Vietnam)

-63.5kg Men: Sergei Lipinetc (Russia) vs Gabor Gorbics (Hungary)

-71kg Men: Nikita Selyanskiy (Russia) vs Ahmad Ali Khalaf Hasan (Jordan)

-91kg Men: Eugen Waigel (Germany) vs Aleksandr Dmitrienko (Russia)

The finals will take place on Friday October 25, 2013 in the Yubileiny Sports Complex with the first fight at 16:00 Russian time or 13:00 GMT.