The WORLD ASSOCIATION of KICKBOXING ORGANISATIONS end of year Fight Night was a great spectacle to end a fantastic year for WAKO. In 2005 WAKO (NZ) have organised five Full Contact tournaments in the Waikato , two Semi-Contact Tournaments and developed the first ever New Zealand WAKO team to enter the WAKO World Championships. WAKO (NZ) President Rick Dobson is really pleased with his management teams work over the past 12 months, which is only 18 months since WAKO was formed in . (WAKO is established in over 90 countries across the globe).
The fight Night was at the Te Awamutu events centre and consisted of both Full Contact fights which regulate over Waist kicks, and Low Kick which includes Thigh kicks. WAKO follow all three disciplines of Full Contact rules, Low Kick rules and Thai Rules.
There were 14 fights on the card with a rematch and Super heavyweight title as the finale. The fights kept the near capacity crowd on the edge of their seats with some excellently matched bouts. The Mania Sport Fighters from Auckland let the show down by not appearing for their demonstration with no notice, Club coach attempted to save the day with a good demonstration by Jaquie Yep showing club Focus and Thai pad work. The second demonstration of the evening got the hard core Full Contact fans on their feet with Mulitple world champion CARL VAN ROON and Multiple International DAFYDD SAUNDERS demonstrating the speed and focus of Semi-Contact training and sparring. Carl stunned the crowd with his accuracy, speed and agility including an actual double (520degrees) Jump Spinning Hook kick, Daffyd replied with his speed and flexibility. A demo of lightning fast sparring was followed by Carls demo of a jump front kick using both legs to two attackers, then a head high split kick, hitting two attackers at each side of him, simultaneously. This was followed by an auction, promoted by auctioneer and the evenings MC Joseph Ngarimu. The auction was for a WAKO National Championships T shirt signed by this years national team, to raise funds to support the team in for the world Championships. The shirt raised a fabulous $110.
The penultimate match was a grudge match between former Phantom fighter Scott ‘Scrappy’ Beal who now fights out of George Ellis’s stable and present Phantom Fighter Wiki ‘The Whirlwind’ Tutaki. Scott showed why he has the handle of ‘Scrappy’ by taking the scrap to Wiki, pushing him constantly but an unstoppable nose bleed ended Scotts chance in the second round and retaining Tutaki’s unbeaten record. Scott Beal impressed the promoters with his excellent improvements that George had developed in him.
The final match was a rematch from some 4 years ago between Carl Cowley of Whakatane Fight Club and Jacob Tiananga of Huntly Kickboxing. The fight went the distance with some excellent targeting by both of these big guys with Cowley taking the vacant WAKO Super Heavyweight title.
WAKO Organisers have decided to now move its tournaments around the Waikato with the first Tournament of 2006 being held at Putaruru on February 18th at the Kensington PLAZA . The Semi-Contact tournaments will be held on two occasions in 2006 with the National championships early in the year and the NZ open late in the year. Rick Dobson , National president has to develop and take the New Zealand National team to the world Championships again in 2006 with a team for Muay Thai, Low Kick, Full Contact, and Semi-Contact. Any one interested in WAKO Competitions can contact Rick on 0800 542 548 or E mail at [email protected]
