W.A.K.O. European Championships 1998 (Leverkusen)

W.A.K.O. European Championships 1998
A poster or logo for W.A.K.O. European Championships 1998.
Information
Promotion	W.A.K.O.
Date	1 December (Start) 6 December 1998 (End)
City	Leverkusen, Germany
Event chronology
W.A.K.O. World Championships 1997 W.A.K.O. European Championships 1998 W.A.K.O. World Championships 1999 (Bishkek)

W.A.K.O. European Championships 1998 in Leverkusen were the joint fourteenth European kickboxing championships (the other was held in Kiev the same year) hosted by the W.A.K.O. organization and the fourth championships (world and European) to be held in Germany. The event was open to amateur men and women based in Europe only and there were just the two styles on offer; Full-Contact and Light-Contact kickboxing. By the end of the championships Russia was by far the dominant nation in terms of medals won, with Poland second and Hungary third. The event was held in Leverkusen, Germany over six days starting on Tuesday, 1 December and ending on Sunday, 6 December 1998.^[1]

Full-Contact

Full-Contact is a form of kickboxing where fights are won primarily by stoppage or points decision, with kicks and punches allowed above the waist, although unlike professional kickboxing fighters had to wear head and body protection - more detail on the rules are available on the W.A.K.O. website.^[2] At Leverkusen the men had twelve weight classes ranging from 51 kg/112.2 lbs to over 91 kg/+200.2 lbs, while the women had six, ranging from 48 kg/105.6 lbs to over 65 kg/+143 lbs. Notable medalists included Robert Nowak, Almaz Gismeev and future female boxing legend Natascha Ragosina who had all won gold medals back at the last European championships in Belgrade. By the championships end Russia was the strongest nation overall in Full-Contact, winning five golds, three silvers and three bronzes.^[3]

Men's Full-Contact Kickboxing Medals Table

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Light Bantamweight -51 kg	Merguen Mongush	Gabor Aburko	Damian Ławniczak Kuvat Kurbanov
Bantamweight -54 kg	Francesco De Luca	Milisav Ilic	Kenneth Johansen Alexandre Fedozov
Featherweight -57 kg	Thomas Karlsson	Fouad Habbani	Armen Ohanyan Laszco Velsei
Lightweight -60 kg	Muzaffer Tosun	Artur Sergeev	Daniel Korner Zoubahir Mamoudi
Light Welterweight -63.5 kg	Dosaev Gani	Gyoergy Bugyik	Giuseppe Lorusso Marco Seifert
Welterweight -67 kg	Giga Kordzadze	Sven Kirsten	Terje Arildsen Roman Bashkaton
Light Middleweight -71 kg	Robert Nowak	Khalmurad Izmailov	Mikhail Plotnikov Lasylo Bavany
Middleweight -75 kg	Zoran Stanković	Andreas Tuft	Gerard Zdziarski Roman Chmil
Light Heavyweight -81 kg	Aleksei Solovjov	Viktor Savchenko	Mittally Tiszai Roman Dakolinsh
Cruiserweight -86 kg	Igor Pylypenko	Petri Reima	Dmitri Sobennicov Attila Sarkoezi
Heavyweight -91 kg	Elvir Behlulovic	Gergely Csölle	Ramazi Kikalishvili Lubos Koptak
Super Heavyweight +91 kg	Almaz Gismeev	Patrik Matejka	Vlatko Sorola Vladyslav Chornyi

Women's Full-Contact Kickboxing Medals Table

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Bantamweight -48 kg	Veronique Legras	Alina Shaternikova	Erzsebet Borosi Giovanna Neglia
Featherweight -52 kg	Christine de Ruggiero	Helena Karpatchyova	Oksana Ivasiva Edyta Olewniczak
Lightweight -56 kg	Tatyana Chalaj	Viktoria Rudenko	Iwona Guzowska Heidi Hutari
Middleweight -60 kg	Julia Voskoboinik	Anna Kasprzak	Elza Midzic Tatyana Alalutdinova
Light Heavyweight -65 kg	Agnieszka Rylik	Zulfiya Kutdyusova	Suzana Stunja Tanja Vujic
Heavyweight +65 kg	Natascha Ragosina	Ivana Derdic	Bojava Trajkovic Marianne Antersberger

Light-Contact

Light-Contact is a form of kickboxing that is less physical than Full-Contact but more so than Semi-Contact and is often seen as an intermediate step between the two. Fights are generally won by points scored on the basis of speed and technique over brute force and both fighters must wear head and body protection - more detail on Light-Contact rules can be found on the official W.A.K.O. website.^[4] The men had eight weight divisions ranging from 57 kg/125.4 lbs to over 89 kg/+195.8 lbs while the women had five ranging from 50 kg/110 lbs to over 65 kg/143 lbs. The most notable winner was Tomaž Barada who added to the gold he won at the last European championships. By the end of the event Hungary was the top nation overall in Light-Contact with two golds, six silvers and two bronze medals.^[5]

Men's Light-Contact Kickboxing Medals Table

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
-57 kg	Rafal Kaluzny	Dezső Debreczeni	Diego Bianco Denis Van Ngoc
-63 kg	Tomaž Barada	Antonio Coletta	Dawid Kowalski Che Deane
-69 kg	Alexander Starostin	Oliver Stricz	Aleksandr Sukhoviy Andreas Hahn
-74 kg	Boris Zalyotkin	Tamas Hudoba	Sergey Zaharchuk Darren Duncan
-79 kg	Zoltan Dancso	Alexei Zalyotkin	Roland Conar Miroslav Sobotka
-84 kg	Martin Albers	Laszlo Toth	Bartolomeo Bonvino Muhammad Ali Durmaz
-89 kg	Klaus Wilkinson	Zsolt Molnar	Radek Nekvinda Michal Wszolek
+89 kg	Michael Kruckenhauser	István Tóth	Gianmario Franchina Jacek Puchacz

Women's Light-Contact Kickboxing Medals Table

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
-50 kg	Szilvia Csicsely	Sonia De Biase	Marie Laure Miviere Julita Tkaczyk
-55 kg	Bianca Tapilatu	Rita Pesuth	Stephanie Rzehak Adriana Popa
-60 kg	Emanuela Amisani	Lisa Palme	Judit Gal Monika Florek
-65 kg	Marianne Klemmstein	Lidiya Sharapova	Petra Hochstrasser Csilla Bodoe
+65 kg	Sallie McArdle	Anja Renfordt	Katarzyna Balcerzar Annalisa Ghilardi

Overall Medals Standing (Top 5)

Ranking	Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1	Russia	7	5	3
2	Poland	3	1	11
3	Hungary	2	7	6
4	Germany	2	2	6
4	Italy	2	2	6
5	France	2	1	1

See also

• List of WAKO Amateur European Championships
• List of WAKO Amateur World Championships

References

External links

• WAKO World Association of Kickboxing Organizations Official Site