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How I saw it: Irish Open 2010
March 21st, 2010 by KiralyTeam received 1 Comment »
Not even two weeks ago (5th, 6th & 7th March) in Dublin the organizing committee of the Irish Open performed a historical act: besides this competition has been the most prestigious kickboxing event, by now the famous Irish Open is also the biggest fighting tournament ever in the history of the kickboxing. The big act means that in my view, not just the best European clubs, but all of the strongest teams from the US and Canada attended here. It was held in a fantastic and brand new arena on 15 tatamies and also in a ring. Who was there, perfectly know what I’m talking about. You missed something really special. Ladies and gentlemen officially 2150 fighters registered from 31 countries.
Because of the huge numbers above, we could count on a very big challenge in team competition where besides more than 30 European teams 7 teams from the American continent (if I remember correctly) started to take the gold on Friday evening. It was spectacular, on each side USA All Stars 2, BestFighter, Team Full Circle, Team Full Circle Canada, Team JPM and KiralyTeam, pending on the other side SAP Team Europe, Team Full Circle 2, BestFighter 2, USA All Stars. What a list! Finally, in the final four: USA All Stars beat BestFighter 2 on a pretty good match and KiralyTeam beat Team Full Circle on a thrilling fight by only 2 points. Spectators could watch special battles until the end, where KiralyTeam met USA All Stars in the final.
Matching of the Team Final
- Tamas Imre vs. Willie Hicks
- Zsolt Moradi vs. Robbie Lavoie
- Richard Veres vs. Jack Felton
- Laszlo Gombos vs. Raymond Daniels
- Anna Kondar vs. Regena Thompson
My team started calm and confidently and took lead by 3 points after the first fight. We could keep result up till the third match, where it turned draw. Raymond won by one on a close match against Gombi and they took lead by 1 point. Anna did what she had to, turned the score draw again. Extra time followed. We couldn’t win coin flip as through the whole day, that’s why Raymond stepped forward to fight and regain their team title. My coach, Istvan Kiraly chose me to fight Ray. It started. I surpsrised him with a backfist first, then defensive sidekick, leading by one. I got a jumping turning kick to my body (2 points), Ray took lead by one. Blitzing, kicking and blitzing and kicking again, blitz scored 1 point. In the last 20 seconds there were few questionable judgement, things were happening quickly, but we know that, during a pointfighting fight it happens. Stop time. It finished. I missed our chance this time. USA All Stars regained their team title in 2010. Congratulations, Mates! This final was very high leveled what an Irish Open team title match expected and was very enjoyable for spectators too.
On Saturday, individual category came for men and Grand Champion category for women. Incredible competitor numbers in every category. At least 64 competitors in each, in 74 kgs more than a 100 (hundred!) fighters. What is this, if not the biggest individual challenge in the world? Almost every top fighters attended I know. Here I must say, unfortunately it was impossible to follow all the actions, because mine and every other black belt category took about 6 hours or more, so I had to save my strength for a 10 hour competition (including waiting for night show). I missed watching a bunch of great matches, that’s why I cannot analyze them. So, this time a please your help to share your opinions, standpoints, leave your comments about each fights, categories or simply just about Irish Open experiences with the others. Let’s create a real community for our glorious sport!
Results of the Night Show
Men’s -57 kg Final: Manuel Esposito (ITA) defeated Robbie Lavoie (USA)
Men’s -63 kg Final: Andrea Lucchese (ITA) defeated Richard Veres (HUN)
Men’s -69 kg Final: Laszlo Gombos (HUN) defeated Domenico De Marco (ITA)
Men’s -74 kg Final: Jack Felton (USA) defeated Gregorio Di Leo (ITA)
Men’s -79 kg Final: Zsolt Moradi (HUN) defeated Robbie McMenamy (IRE)
Men’s -84 kg Final: Robbie McMenamy (IRE) defeated Raymond Daniels (USA)
Men’s -89 kg Final: Andreas AnGelopoulos (GRE) defeated Drew Neal (GBR)
Men’s -94 kg Final: Ross Levine (USA) defeated Paolo Niceforo (ITA)
Men’s +94 kg Final: Michael Reece-page (GBR) defeated Ben Stewart (CAN)
Men’s Grand Champion Final: Raymond Daniels (USA) defeated Jack Felton (USA)
Women’s Grand Champion Final: Gloria De Bei (ITA) defeated Luisa Gullotti (ITA)
Read More
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How I saw it: Athens Challenge 2010
How I saw it: Golden Gloves 2010
Tags: gala, Grand Champion, Ireland, Irish Open, KiralyTeam, Team Event, tournament, Zsolt Moradi
Posted under: Featured Articles, Posts by Zsolt Moradi, Tournaments
To watch all of the finals from the Saturday night show, go to http://www.brannmanndan.com