A full house witnessed the world’s best karate fighter’s battle it out at the Full Contact Karate World Challenge on Sunday 7th August 2011 at the Juniors, Kingsford, Sydney, Australia. Current World Champion, Roman Nesterenko, from Russia, beat Lithuanian Lukas Kubilius in the final of the knockout event, the first of its kind to be staged in Australia.
Eight of the world’s best fighters from Japan, Brazil, Russia, Hungary, and Lithuania flew in especially to take on home-grown talent in eight knockout matches of adrenaline pumping full contact karate, which saw one winner declared.
Kyokushinkai karate is the most physical form of karate and sees competitors battle it out in three minute rounds, with the aim of knocking out their opponent.
A spectacular highlight from the evening was an ice breaking demonstration by Roman’s Nesterenko’s coach, Roman Reznik. The crowd with cameras in hand were silenced with anticipation as Rezni prepared to break 5 slabs of ice; nothing quite like it has been seen in Australia.
The event, guest hosted Peter Graham, an Australian mixed martial arts specialist, raised over $20,000 for the Schizophrenia Research Institute, which was accepted by Miss World Australia and Schizophrenia Research Institute Ambassador Ashleigh Francis.
Australia’s best hope and oldest member of the field, Daniel Trifu had the crowd on his side with 100 of his dojo students watching him progress to the semi-finals, taking victory over Brazilian Rafael Garcia in extension time. He went down to eventual runner up Lukas Kubilius in a heavyweight battle. Daniel was presented with the “Fighting Spirit” trophy for his efforts.
The event was the brainchild of local businessman and karate enthusiast Mark Murphy, from Murphy Roofing who fulfilled a life-long dream to bring the best karate fighters in the world to Australia.
“It was incredible to see some of the world’s best karate fighters in action. A personal highlight was seeing the kids flock to the mat post presentations to greet their new heroes and get autographs and have photos taken” said Mr Murphy.
After a sell out event, the Full Contact Karate World Challenge II is already in planning.
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