|
|
|
Interview with IFK Vice President, Shihan
David Pickthall ahead of the 5th IFK World
Tournament in Sibiu, Romania, on May 27th & 28th Q) With two weeks to go before the 5th
IFK World Tournament what are your impressions of the preparation for the
event? We are very pleased with work our Romanian Federation
run by Sensei Christian Hirsh and his tournament committee are doing. At this time it appears all on schedule and
we hope the event will be a success. With over 400 participants from 40 counties it should
be a very high level. We have 14 different organisations represented within
the 70 teams so we expect some exciting fights as there will be some
contrasting styles of fighting. Q) It's certainly a large number of
competitors so why do you believe this event is so much bigger than in 2013? Good
question, after 1992 when we left the IKO we were a new organization starting
with only a few countries but we still held our first three championships and
had good participation numbers but then for various reasons we didn't host a
World Championship for eight years focusing more on building a solid
organization with good technical levels. I do however believe this was a
mistake, of course in one area we became stronger with a respected level but
our athletes didn't have the chance to compete for their own World titles. In 2013 we
hosted the 4th edition in the UK and if you look at the actually
numbers we had over 230 fighters from 36 countries so yes it appears this
event in Romania will have a lot more competitors but previously we had five
adult weights and only five U18 weights. So I would
say the addition of U21 plus the extra weights has really made the
difference. Also several
countries found it might harder to get a visa to the UK as the immigration
conditions are tougher. Q) So why the inclusion of the -90kg
for Men? Well we used
it at the European Championships and it was a success, in the past Men’s LW
was always the biggest but all our events now seem to be getting higher
levels of participation in the heavier categories now. I think it
shows with 38 fighters in the HW and 30 in the SHW we have made the right
decision. World
statistics shows that the average weight of humans has risen over the years
so it surprises me to see some events actually reducing the weight limits. With so much
media attention on the fact of slimming and eating disorders in both men and
women now and concerns in fighting arts that huge weight cutting is
detrimental to health it seems particularly strange to lower recognized
limits. Maybe in the
future we will discuss adding to the Women’s categories but for this event we
decided to keep our two traditional weights. Q) And do you see the IFK Russian team
dominating the event like in 2013? Of course
that Is a possibility they have a very strong team. They are our biggest
membership with huge representation all over Russia. The competition to just
get selected in Russia is so tough it will take very good performances to
stop them but that doesn't mean it won’t happen. In the past
Japan used to dominate events but as time went by the rest of the world
caught up and now apart from in a few organizations Japan does not win the
majority of events. That is because Japan set a standard everyone had to rise
too. Now the challenge is for everyone to improve to match or go above the
standard set by Russia. Q) Do you think the creation of the
KWU has helped you attract good athletes to these championships? Yes I
definitely think relationships have grown with not only the other
organisations but also within countries. Many IFK countries now actively seek
to include other organisations in our event and event and even travel
together as a team. As I
mentioned earlier we have representation from 14 organisations, there is no
point in having a slogan ‘time to be united’ but then we restrict access to
our own events. If we hold
closed events its only the athletes that suffer,
they miss the opportunity to test themselves against the best from all
organisations. As a fan of Kyokushin I am excited to see the inclusion of the
Ukrainian WKB fighter Ismailov in the -90kg.
Previously the IKO European Champion at this weight it will be great to see
him against fighters like KWU Champions Ryadnov,
Lebo and Jacquot to name a few. Q) So is the aim to still get Kyokushin into the Olympics? As a main
goal this would be amazing but we have to be clear, at this time the KWU chairmen
agreed we would not compromise the rules of our events to try for the Olympic
dream. Removing
techniques and making some light contact completely alters the conditions of
a Kyokushin bout. Our
philosophy is the same now as when we formed the KWU, to maintain the
credibility and the ethos of our fighting system that was set out by Sosai Oyama. There may be
small rule alterations on the journey but not to change the conditions of the
fights. We also have
to remember WKF Sport Karate has been included into the program of the next
Olympiad at the request of Japan but there is no guarantee this will stay in
the Olympics for the future. We should
congratulate the WKF on achieving this but it is nothing like our sport. The
conditions for their inclusion are clearly recorded on the internet for
people to read so it surprises me to see Kyokushin
people putting the Kanku inside the Olympic rings
and people writing Kyokushin will be in the
Olympics. According to
the conditions of the event a total of 80 athletes will take part from around
the world in the 2020 Olympics, 40 Men and 40 women. There will be 3 mens kumite categories and 3 womens
plus 2 categories of kata. Athletes will
be chosen through the selection tournaments. Unless these
conditions change it will take a Kyokushin fighter
a superhuman effort to move from Kyokushin rules to
Sport Karate and get selected. Q) Any final thoughts on your upcoming
championships? Only that I
would like to once again thank the organising committee and our media team
for bringing this event to the forefront of peoples
attention. To the Mayors
and regional and the local council of Sibiu I wish to thank you for all your
support and to all the sponsors who make this event a possibility. The final two
weeks I am sure will be hectic with final details and planning taking place.
To the Kyokushin fight fans, if you can’t be there
in person make sure to you watch in on our online options. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
