The quarterfinals for point fighting, low kick and full contact were held on the first day of World Combat Games Kickboxing competition and there were some surprises, especially in the women’s competition. Favorite female point fighting competitor Chelsey Nash of Canada was eliminated in a close match with Italy’s Gloria de Bei. Adriann Kades of Hungary was also eliminated by one point in her face off against Ireland’s Shauna Bannon.
Bannon and the rest of her Irish counterparts had a great showing in point fighting with every Irish competitor advancing to the next round. Desmond Leonard of Ireland handily defeated his Indian adversary Singh Deepak while Mark McDermott eliminated the Chilean fighter Pablo Acuna Varas. Irish heartthrob Robbie McMenamey stopped his Russian opponent with a 5-1 score to advance in -84kg point fighting.
The Hungarian men and Italians also found success on the point fighting tatami. WIth de Bei leading the pack for the Italians, Adriano Passaro also moved on in the -63kg division as did Neri Stella in the -84kg weight class. Hungarian Laszlo Gombos outscored his Bulgarian opponent 16-6 while Nick Ramael of Belgium fell to the hands and feet of Hungarian Ritchie Veres. Mexico’s lone fighter Daniel Colorado outscored his Indian opponent 10-0 to also advance.
As expected, the Russians went undefeated in both low kick and full contact fighting and the two fighters from Kyrgyzstan did well with both advancing in their respective full contact divisions. USA fighter Gabrielle Labbee was eliminated by Vietnamese fighter Thi Tuyet Nguyen in -52kg women’s low kick fighting. Nguyen then went on to also win her quarterfinals round in women’s full contact to be the sole competitor to advance in two separate disciplines at the event.
Tonje Sorlie of Norway looked strong in her unanimous first round defeat of Veronika Petrikova of Slovakia in -56kg full contact fighting. Sorlie will face Lamyae Sdassi of Morocco in the next round, a fighter she has never faced before. When asked about the match-up, Sorlie noted that “although I have not fought her before, she has not fought me either so we both do not know what to expect.” Jose Mariscal the other American at the event, started slow in his full-contact match against Hussean Sarray of Iraq but managed to finish strong in the final two rounds to reach an unanimous decision in his favor.
The stage is now set for the semi-final fights coming Wednesday, October 23, 2013 beginning at 17:00 hours in the Yubileiny Sports Complex, St. Petersburg, Russia.
The fighting match-ups for October 23, 2013 are as follows:
Point fighting:
-60kg Women
Shauna Bannon (Ireland) vs Nadia Bayett (South Africa)
Evelyn Neyes (Belgium) vs Gloria de Bei (Italy)
-63kg Men
Richard Veres (Hungary) vs Ryan Phillips (South Africa)
Desmond Leonard (Ireland) vs Adriano Passaro (Italy)
-74kg Men
Laszlo Gombos (Hungary) vs Tilen Zajc (Slovakia)
Sufyaan Morat (South Africa) vs Mark McDermott (Ireland)
-84kg Men
Robbie McMenamey (Ireland) vs Raed Tuem Alah (Jordan)
Daniel Colorado (Mexico) vs Neri Stella (Italy)
Low Kick
-67kg Men
Kenan Gunaydin (Turkey) vs Seyyedmasoud Derekeh (Iraq)
Volodymyr Demchuk (Ukraine) vs Shamil Abdulmedzhidov (Russia)
-81kg Men
Igor Emkic (Bosnia) vs Aleksandr Drobinin (Russia)
Fernando dos Santos (Brazil) vs Serhat Degermenci (Turkey)
-75kg Men
Khasan Khaliev (Russia) vs Khasankhon Baratov (Uzbekistan)
Tadeu da San Martino (Brazil) vs Kadir Tastan (Turkey)
-52kg Women
Anna Poskrebyshiva (Russia) vs Thi Tuyet Nguyen (Vietnam)
Farinaz Lari (Iraq) vs Zehra Gulgen (Turkey)
Full Contact
-56kg Women
Tonje Sorlei (Norway) vs Lamyae Sdassi (Morocco)
Thi Tuyet Nguyen (Vietnam) vs Camilla Viksten (Finland)
-71kg Men
Nikita Selyanskiy (Russia) vs Stalbek Darkanbaev (Kyrgyzstan)
Jose Mariscal (USA) vs Ahmad Khalaf Hasan (Jordan)
-63.5kg Men
Sergei Lipinetc (Russia) vs William Saidi (France)
Ahmad Aljhran Akram (Jordan) vs Gabor Gorbics (Hungary)
-91kg Men
Eugen Waigel (Germany) vs Hassan Amouei Taromsari (Iraq)
Rashit Amankulov (Kyrgyzstan) vs Aleksandr Dmitrienko (Russia)
