Zahari Damyanov UK seminar

On the 23rd February 2019, Sensei Zahari Damyanov, the current absolute World Champion was in London to lead an open seminar hosted by the BKK’s Sensei Hristo Lyubenov at his Ichi Geki dojo in Bounds Green, alongside BKK Chairman and IFK Secretary General, Shihan Liam Keaveney.

The seminar was attended by a number of Kyokushin groups (BKK, IFK, Kyokushin-kan, Shinkyokushin,IKO1, KWU, EMAR) all with a common goal of knowledge sharing, developing Kyokushinkai, and building strong friendships old and new.

(L-R) Shihan Liam Keaveney, Sensei Zahari Damyanov, Sensei Hristo Lyubenov

(L-R) Shihan Liam Keaveney, Sensei Zahari Damyanov, Sensei Hristo Lyubenov

Sensei Zarahi Damyanov with BKK National Coaches Sensei Kenny Jarvis, and Sensei Wai Cheung

Sensei Zarahi Damyanov with BKK National Coaches Sensei Kenny Jarvis, and Sensei Wai Cheung

KWU Seminars with IFK instructor

The KWU held training seminars across South America for the last few weeks with IFK Argentina, IFK Chile and IFK Brazil assisting with organising venues across the region. General Secretary Sensei Alexander Pichkunov and IFK Russia St Petersburg Instructor Sensei Dmitry Savelyev were invited to hold training sessions and meeting with representatives of KWU and other organisational heads in these countries.

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From January 19 to January 21, 2019, for the first time, an open Kyokushin training seminar in Argentina was organised by Shihan Romero with the support of the KWU and National Federation ‘KWU Argentina’. This seminar was attended by the heads and athletes from Kyokushin organizations of Argentina, Colombia, Chile, and Peru in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Then Sensei Dmitry travelled to Chile to Senpai Caru and held sessions with both Chilean and Bolivian students from the 21st -24th January in Valparaiso.

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 His final leg of the journey was to Sao Paulo, Brazil to IFK Rep Sensei Jeovaldo Barreto from 25th -27th January. This had a large turnout with many organisations and also students from IFK Uruguay willing to come together and work for a common goal.

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#timetobeunited

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First special item 2019 agenda for IFK Uruguay

On Saturday January 26th 2019 kuro obis of Uruguay, including State representatives coming from Salto, Soriano and Canelones joined black belts from Montevideo to participate in the first special training session of 2019.

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For over 3 hours, under the watchful eye of Sensei German Carballo, Country Representative of IFK Uruguay, kuro obis worked on stances, strikes and bunkai among other formal aspects of the IFK Syllabus.

On an international level, IFK Uruguay is being represented by Nicolas Dagys in the Kumite Seminar led by the Russian coach and world champion Sensei Dmitry Savelyev held in São Paulo, Brazil - part of the KWU South America trip.

2019 agenda continues with the referees training session, which will focus on IFK kumite rules -  activity scheduled for Februay 23rd; along with special ongoing sessions focused on kata for the national team who will compete in the IFK World Kata Tournment next April.

IFK Uruguay IV National Tournament 2018 and Results

On Sunday August 5th, the IV I.F.K. Uruguay National Tournament was held in the Praga Club facilities in Mercedes City.

Over 70 athletes from several cities across the country took part, competing in different categories: Kata, Kumite against a sandbag (6 - 9 years old) & Kumite Knockdown -juniors, cadets and adults- according to official I.F.K. rules.

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The Tournament was declared of State Interest by the Municipal Board of Soriano, and was a qualifying instance for the I.F.K. Under-21 South America Tournament to be held in November in Montevideo City, Uruguay.

OFFICIAL RESULTS:

 Kata

 Pee-Wee (White - Blue belt)
1° Victoria Villano (IFK-Dojo Estribo)
2° Rafael Alvarez (IFK-Yantsu Dojo)
3° Ruben Quesada (IFK Yantsu Dojo)

 Pee-Wee (Yellow - Green belt)
1° Kevin Vidal (IFK-Kanku Dojo)
2° Denis Lazarga (IFK-Kanku Dojo)
3° Alan Lazarga (IFK-Kanku Dojo)

 Adults (White - Blue belt)
1° Fátima Parra (IFK-Dojo Estribo)
2° Mauricio Nesteruk (IFK-Dojo Estribo)
3° Guillermo Parra (IFK-Dojo Estribo)
4° Donato Sena (IFK-Sai Dojo)

 Adults (Yellow - Green belt)
1° Claudia López (IFK-Dojo Estribo)
2° Joaquín Mesa (IFK-Dojo Estribo)
3° Juan Pablo Bianchi (IFK-Dojo Estribo)

 Pee-Wee - Kumite against a sandbag

 6 & 7 years old
1° Tatiana Nesteruk (IFK-Dojo Estribo)
2° Avril Carballo (IFK-Dojo Estribo)
3° Santiago Rosso (IFK-Yantsu Dojo)

 8 & 9 years old

1°Santiago Cuenca (IFK-Yantsu Dojo)
2° Lautaro Lafranchi (IFK-Kanku Dojo)
3° Brandon Bermuedez (IFK-Yantsu Dojo)
4° Nahuel Picherno (IFK-Dojo Estribo)

Kumite Knockdown Juniors & Cadets

10 & 11 years old

1° Ezequiel Rodriguez (IFK-Yantsu Dojo)
2° Aragon Gavarone (IFK-Yantsu Dojo)
3° Luciano Lemos (IFK-Yantsu Dojo)
4° Enrique Acosta (IFK-Yantsu Dojo)

12 & 13 years old
1° Rodrigo Gomez (Kyokukaikan Dojo Coetc)
2°Gabriel Fernandez (IFK-Yantsu Dojo)
3° Martín Machado (IFK-Yantsu Dojo)

14 & 15 years old
1°Guzmán Centurión (IFK-Yantsu Dojo)
2° Joaquín Castro (IFK-Yantsu Dojo)
3° Leonardo Sabella (IFK-Yantsu Dojo)

16 & 17 years old
1° Nahuel Filippini (WKB Hombu Dojo)
2° Jonathan Funez (IFK-Yantsu Dojo)
3° Ian Lugo (Kyokukaikan Dojo Coetc)

Kumite Knockdown - Adults absolute category

1° Gonzalo Bentancur (IFK-Dojo Estribo)
2° Yonathan Perez (IFK-Dojo Estribo)
3° Brian De Los Santos (WKB Hombu Dojo)
4° Raúl Rodriguez (IFK-Dojo Estribo)

Special mentions:
Tameshiwari (highest number of broken boards in the adults semifinal instance): Gonzalo Bentancur (IFK-Dojo Estribo)
Best technique of the tournament: Brian De Los Santos (WKB Hombu Dojo)

Referees:
Chief Referee: Sensei Germán Carballo,  

Shushinis: Senpai Santiago Mosco, Senpai Noelia Fabre and Senpai Mario Hornos. 

Fukushins & Arbitrators: Senpais Gonzalo Díaz, Maite De León, Cesar Acosta, Jonathan Fúnez, Matías Laíno, Martín Rucci, Claudia López and Matías Arenas.

Officials: 
Senpai Rocío Gonzalez y Florencia Muniz.

Dojos that participated in the tournament: 
Yantsu Dojo (IFK-Mercedes) Instructor: Mario Hornos
Kanku Dojo (IFK-Dolores) Instructor:  Mario Hornos
Dojo Estribo (Montevideo) Instructor: German Carballo
Sai Dojo (Montevideo) Instructor: Richard Giordano
WKB Hombu Dojo (Montevideo) Instructor: Gustavo Matos
Dojo Coetc (Montevideo) Instructor: Walter Urruzola
Chugi Dojo (IFK-Salinas) Instructor: Maite de León
Tameshiwari Dojo (IFK-Salto) Instructor: Gonzalo Díaz

We would like to thank everyone who contributed to make this event possible. Until the next one!

OSU

I.F.K. Kyokushin Uruguay
A.K.K.U. Asociación Kyokushin Kai Uruguay. 
www.ifk-uruguay.com

IFK Bulgaria Summer Camp 2018 held in Primorsko

IFK Bulgaria hosted their Summer Camp in Primorsko by the Black Sea from the 27th June to 4th July with approximately 150 students attending the course, led in the main by Shihan David Pickthall with instruction also from Country Representative Nikola Blagoev and also guest fighting sessions from Senpai Aneta Meskauskiene of IFK Ireland.

We also had Romanian students attending including CR Sensei Christian Hirsch and Irish representation from Senpai Emilia Cahill and family, and Senpai Maciej Solarski of KWF Ireland

IFK World Kata Championships 2019 announced

We are pleased to announce the IFK World Kata Championships will be held in Papendal, Netherlands, on the 27th April 2019.

This event will be for adult and U18 participants selected by their IFK Country Representatives.

All details will be loaded onto the event website shortly.

The IFK will also hold an International Seminar at the Papendal Sportscentre from 24th April - 26th April. This seminar is for all styles and not restricted to only IFK.

Seminar participants must be a minimum of 6th Kyu and 14 years old. Any U18 student who attends the camp with a responsible adult in charge.

1st Fight Night - IFK Brazil

The 1st IFK Fight Night held on April 14th was a real success !

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First event of professional karate fights of the year, the evening featured several states of Brazil and different karate schools. With tough fights and several knockouts, we are already seeing the next edition.

IFK Brazil thanks everyone who participates in the event and hope we will be together to make professional full contact karate in Brazil.

IFK Kyokushin European Open Championship - Team medals

The IFK held the European Tournament

among children, youths and juniors, men and women in weight categories on 7-8 April, in Yerevan, Armenia, at “MIKA” sports complex. The organisers and hosts were The Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs of the Republic of Armenia, and Armenian Kyokushin Karate Federation.

TEAM MEDALS

IFK Kyokushin European Open Championship 2018 - Results

The IFK held the European Tournament

among children, youths and juniors, men and women in weight categories on 7-8 April, in Yerevan, Armenia, at “MIKA” sports complex. The organisers and hosts were The Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs of the Republic of Armenia, and Armenian Kyokushin Karate Federation.

Results MEN & WOMEN division

Women -60Kg

1. Ekaterina Shemina (Russia)
2. Emma Markwell (Great Britain)
3. Irina Valieva (Russia)
3. Anastasia Shvydun (Russia)

Women +60Kg

1. Anna Vishnyakova (Russia)
2. Aneta Meskauskiene (Ireland)
3. Anna Ulybina (Russia)
3. Kristina Golovanova (Russia)

Men -70Kg

1. Omar Magomedov (Russia)
2. Dmitry Rodichkin (Russia)
3. Daniel Redondo cardoso (Spain)
3. Ivan Tumashev (Russia)

Men 70-80Kg

1. Artem Nazaretyan (Russia)
2. Emelian Bitkash (Russia)
3. Shamil Ramazanov (Russia)
3. Narek Aboyan (Armenia)

Men 80-90Kg

1. Jonas Rosin (Sweden)
2. Hovhannes Sargsyan (Armenia)
3. Artem Lyalikov (Russia)
3. David Bitkash (Russia)

Men +90Kg

1. Vitaliy Ishakhneli (Russia)
2. Dmitrii Solovev (Russia)
3. Aleksandr Karshigeev (Russia)
3. Stanislav Stepankov (Russia)

Here are FULL RESULTS 

IFK Kuwait 15th training camp with Shihan Terry Prescott

We have completed our 15th training camp with Shihan Terry Prescott, it was held between the 8th to 10th of March 2018.

The level of techniques and spirit which Shihan Terry gave made this camp another successful camp of IFK Kuwait.

We are very proud to be instructed by Shihan Terry from the BKK and we look forward for more training with him in the near future.

IFK Poland 23rd Winter Camp held on 16th to 18th February

IFK Poland held their 23rd Winter Camp with Vice President Shihan David Pickthall with Country Rep Sensei Dariusz Struski from the 16-18 February in Rzeszow.

 

Karateka from Poland IFK and Shinkyokushin and also visitors from Israel and Belarus took part in the camp that focused on all elements for the IFK. Thanks go to Sensei Jan Wac for organising the event

Happy 25th Anniversary IFK Ukraine

IFK Ukraine their celebrated their 25th anniversary with a seminar at the headquarters in Kiev. 

Country representative Shihan Oleg Sereda invited international instructors to the event with Vice President Shihan David Pickthall leading the main sessions with the assistance of Shihan Andrew Turner GB and Shihan Dmitry Aleknovich Belarus.

There was also a successful dan test and of a superb celebration meal in a traditional Ukrainian restaurant.

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Christian Nugent (1958-2018)

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With deep sadness we announce the passing of the Christian Nugent the Country Representative of the Reunion Islands. 

Originally a Godan in Shotokan Christian joined the IFK in 2013 working with the representative in Mauritius to integrate into the organisation he became a Nidan in Kyokushin in 2016.

Our condolences are with the family at this difficult time.

1958-2018

RIP

3rd KWU World Tournament, held in Ekaterinburg, Russia

WHAT A SHOW!

As the IFK reflect on the success of the 3rd KWU World Championships in Ekaterinburg we can only marvel at the work of the organisers.

This event has set the bar as to where we would aim to be if we achieved Olympic status and it shows we are more than capable of doing it. The opening ceremony was an extravaganza of colour and sound that brought the stadium to life and we thank both the organisers and the creative directors for their vision.

This 3rd edition of the championships showed the KWU is learning from their mistakes in the past.  Competitor check-in procedures were slicker, judging seminars focused on the main issues and as in so many events we didn't witness lots of long speeches by the dignitaries. The athletes were the stars and they rightly took centre stage.

242 competitors from 48 countries meant the majority of the weight categories had solid participation.

Of course the KWU could achieve much higher numbers by allowing more than one participant from a country in each division but this would defeat their aim. We all hold our own championships with our own rules, weights and participation levels. This must be different, the five kilogram categories are suitable for an Olympic programme and as with the other combat sports we follow the example of one athlete per country.

It is interesting to note that for Karate in the 2020 Olympics it is scheduled for each of the six weight categories to have a maximum of 10 athletes only. At the KWU Championships thirteen of fifteen categories achieved more than that number.

Focusing on the performance of the IFK once again we must be proud to have played a major role in its success. We had 52 fighters from 17 countries and topped the medal table with 6 different countries achieving prizes.

Of course our major contributor was the top team in the championships Russia, but we also gained medals from Great Britain, Ireland, Iran, Belarus and an amazing gold from Greece!

Emma Markwell - Silver medal winner

Emma Markwell - Silver medal winner

Maria Papadopoulou - Gold medal winner

Maria Papadopoulou - Gold medal winner

Time to be United!

Shihan Koos van Berkel

On behalf of the IFK Executive Board I would like to express our sadness of the news that Shihan Koos van Berkel has passed away.

Shihan Koos started his journey in Kyokushinkai Karate in the early sixties. He was a Country Representative for the IFK in the Netherlands for many years and was deeply respected by martial artists around the globe.

I would like to offer my heartfelt condolences to the family of Shihan Koos.

Hanshi Steve Arneil

President IFK Kyokushin