Natural replacements – new fighters
The Shinkyokushinkai World Championship (held every 4th year will always be the big event tournamentwise (not including the plans for Full contact karate in the olympics). With four years between each world tournament, there will be a natural replacement of fighters, as well some new will be “born” in to the World Tournament. The 10th WT have the youngest fighter at 17 years and in the other end the age of 43 is noted.
The 9th WT
- Takayuki Tsukakoshi, Japan
- Donatas Imbras Lithuania
- Valeri Dimitrov Bulgaria
- Roman Nesterenko Russia
- Maxim Shevchenko Russia
- Darius Gudauskas Lithuania
- Norichika Tsukamoto Japan
- Denis Grigoriev Russia
The 9th championship 4 years ago gave us these 8 fighters in the top 8. Among these only one, Denis Grigoriev, have left his place for the younger generation. The rest of the top 8 from 2007 is considered to be among the favorites for this years tournament.
Taking a futher look at last tournament, and how it went down among the last 16,and the last 32.
Last 16:
- Vasiliy Khudiakov Russia
- Kenji Maekawa Japan
- Zsolt Barogh Hungary
- Kunihiro Suzuki Japan
- Mindaugas Pavilionis Lithuania
- Kiyohido Kuno Japan
- Alexei Leonov Kazakhstan
- Kazuhito Yamada Japan
Kunihiro Suzuki and Kiyohido Kuno are two more of the same category as Denis Grigoriev. World class fighters with up to four world tournaments. But their knowledge are of course passed on to the up and coming generation.
The 10th WT
Only time will tell how the 10th World Campionship will end, but no doubt that it will be a great tournament! It is no secret that to advance closer to the top in this tournament, the fighters have the skills to overcome several different fighters. But at this level extraordinary skills and personality is a must. Weight is also a issue for some. To be able to take on the strongest fighters and the damage that will be an own factor. Studies show fighters that advance several fights, have also a clearly better defence,and take almost half the damage than the rest..but then again it will depend who do the different fighters meet and the outcome of each fight.
Majority of they who speculate aboute the 10th World Championship will see the top spots almost similar to the 9th, but it will be some changes. Maybe the same name are for the top five, but in a different order. And this can be the championship with first non-Japanese champion will be crowned. Regardless to all, this the highest wish is that all fighters are free for injuries when they enter the tournament i October.