IKA NewsGreat Britain holds the VI Islam Karimov Kurash Tournament
29th January 2006, Sittingbourne, Great Britain Last year’s Islam Karimov Tournament at Sittingbourne was voted the Best Tournament of 2005 by the International Kurash Association. This year’s competition, also held at Sittingbourne, on Mr Karimov’s birthday certainly had a lot to live up to. Around 100 competitors drawn from all over Great Britain plus 2 from Moldova, 1 from Sri Lanka and 1 from Uzbekistan ensured that the 2006 tournament would live up to all expectations. As well as the many participants and spectators, the British Kurash Association were especially pleased to welcome back the Uzbek Ambassador to Great Britain and BKA Honorary President His Excellency Mr Tohtapulat Riskiev and his staff from the Embassy in London, IKA representative Mr Ziyoviddin Khodjiniyazov and Sri Lankan Kurash Federation President Mr Rizvi Rawoof. As expected, the home town of Sittingbourne provided lots of competitors particularly in the junior categories where locals Stacey Branchett and Sam Miller stood out with outstanding performances given their tender years taking the awards for Best Girl and Best Boy respectively. 15 year old Ryan Pitcock clearly won the boys under 60k category and was a surprising yet very worthy runner-up in the Youth under 73 kilo category to the spectacular Moldovan Ion Carp. Youth over 73 kilos was a close fought affair but Folkestone’s Danny Carrott proved to be a classy winner. The Senior Ladies Open produced a shock as the favourite, following world bronze medallist Joyce Malley’s late withdrawal due to injury, veteran Kay Andrews, was beaten into third place by tenacious teenagers Megan Harlow and Kerrie Penfold. The Masters event witnessed a well contested under 80 kilo category in which Kidderminster’s Keith Waldron came out on top defeating World Veterans under 65 kilo silver medallist Paul Sawyer from Bournemouth by a yonbosh score. Lymington’s Danny Murphy, whose son Connor won gold in the boys over 60 kilos, matched this performance with a clear win in the Masters over 80 kilos. The Masters Over 45 years Open marked the Kurash debut of BKA Chairman, Steve Sweetlove MBE who had celebrated his 50th birthday during the week. Steve had been a very successful competitor in judo and sambo during his younger days but in recent years he had concentrated his sporting efforts towards being at the forefront of promoting Kurash in Great Britain. Steve saw the passing of his 50th birthday as a fitting moment to finally hit the competitive Kurash scene! However, Folkestone’s Colin Carrott, himself a highly respected judo and sambo competitor was no birthday present and represented a stern test. After some feeling out in the early stages, it was Sweetlove who turned back the clock winning with a superb khalol score at the mid-point of their final to celebrate his 50th in style! Plucky Ryan Pitcock took on the senior under 60 kilo fighters taking bronze behind Birmingham’s Richard Bevan who won this category with ease. Club mate Jack Webb, 2004 junior world medallist, cut through the under 66 kilo field defeating Sawyer and Bevan in the process. Under 73 kilos saw Umid Bozzorov of Uzbekistan regain the title he won in 2003 but not before young Bruce Conway gave him all the trouble he could handle in the early stages of the final. Youth winner Danny Carrott met Masters winner Keith Waldron in the semi-final of the under 81 kilos where youth prevailed after a very exciting and skilful bout. Danny defeated another promising youngster, Birmingham based Frenchman Nathan Tardy, in the final with a precisely executed shoulder throw. Ever popular Sittingbourne wrestler John Clarke, son of the town’s leading martial artist, judoka and sambo wrestler Martin Clarke, clearly headed the field at under 90 kilos beating the much improved Leigh Till of Shoreham in the final. Danny Murphy took his second gold of the day at over 90 kilos with a consummate display of throwing skills despite the brave attempts of Mark Conway to reverse the result of their Masters semi-final. Three open events were held with Ryan Pitcock taking his second gold of the day beating club mate Ben Newbury in the Youth Open final. Pitcock’s skills and willingness to take on all-comers regardless of size and age earned him the Fighting Spirit of Kurash award. In the Masters Open, 66 kilo Paul Sawyer overcame a 37 kilo weight handicap to throw 2005 world medallist Darrin Richardson for khalol in the dying seconds of a closely contested semi-final. Unfortunately for Paul, 120 kilo Danny Murphy proved too good in the final winning by khalol. The senior open final pitted hometown favourite John Clarke against Danny Murphy. The early running saw Murphy comfortably thwart all of the smaller Clarke’s attacks whilst scoring yonbosh and chala himself. It appeared that the tiring Clarke had shot his bolt but suddenly, in a last gasp attempt, Clarke snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, launching a tremendous dropping shoulder throw to send Murphy flat onto his back for khalol. This performance earned Clarke the Best Senior Performance of the Day award. A brilliant finish to a great day’s Kurash – a truly befitting celebration of the birthday of Islam Karimov, the President of Uzbekistan and the driving force behind this dynamic and colourful wrestling sport. The day was completed by a colourful medal ceremony where the winners were awarded with the beautiful traditional Uzbek jackets along with their medals. The British Kurash Association would like to the IKA for their participation and support for the event, Mr Riskiev and the Uzbek Embassy for their assistance and attendance, tournament organisers Tim Thomas, Keith Costa, Paul Sawyer and Stephen Sweetlove MBE, and of course the referees and table officials, in particular referee Andy Tremlett, who all worked very hard to keep the tournament running smoothly.
Under 30 kilos Gold Ashley JORDAN (Sittingbourne) Under 36 kilos Gold Benjamin WOOD_GLUCK (London) Under 42 kilos Gold Tom MATTHEWS (Sittingbourne) Under 50 kilos Gold Sam MILLER (Sittingbourne) Under 60 kilos Gold Ryan PITCOCK (Kidderminster) Over 60 kilos Gold Connor MURPHY (Lymington)
Under 30 kilos Gold Perri MORTIMER (Sittingbourne) Under 36 kilos Gold Lottie MILLINGTON (Kidderminster) Under 50 kilos Gold Stacey BRANCHETT (Sittingbourne) Over 50 kilos Gold Megan HARLOW (Faversham)
Under 73 kilos Gold Ion CARP (Moldova) Over 73 kilos Gold Danny CARROTT (Folkestone)
Open Gold Megan HARLOW (Faversham)
Open Gold Kerrie PENFOLD (Folkestone)
Under 60 kilos Gold Richard BEVAN (Birmingham) Under 66 kilos Gold Jack WEBB (Birmingham KKK) Under 73 kilos Gold Umid BOZZOROV (Uzbekistan) Under 81 kilos Gold Danny CARROTT (Folkestone) Under 90 kilos Gold John CLARKE (Sittingbourne) Over 90 kilos Gold Danny MURPHY (Lymington)
Under 80 kilos Gold Keith WALDRON (Kidderminster) Over 80 kilos Gold Danny MURPHY (Lymington)
Open Gold Steve SWEETLOVE MBE (Bedford)
Gold Ryan PITCOCK (Kidderminster) MASTERS MEN OPEN Gold Danny MURPHY (Lymington) SENIOR MEN OPEN Gold John CLARKE (Sittingbourne)
Best Senior Performance John CLARKE Best Masters Performance Danny MURPHY Best Ladies Performance Megan HARLOW Best Junior Girl Stacey BRANCHETT Best Junior Boy Sam MILLER Fighting Spirit of Kurash Ryan PITCOCK
30 January 2006
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Report
by the British Kurash Association
