Hello Fight Fans - Jan 5th 2003

Happy new year - and welcome to week 10 of 'ForKicks' Ireland very own weekly KickBoxing column - from the People.

Got any news? If so, please email it to - prokick@group.tm

FIRST EVENT OF THE NEW YEAR Just £40 will buy you a ticket for one of the hottest events of the year - ProKick 10 year dinner bash at the Holiday Inn in Ormeau Ave. So now is the time to dust of your tux and book a date at the hairdressers, the first event this year will be a black tie dinner affair on Friday 31st January. The event will celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Prokick club in Wilgar street. Three bouts are planned, and a film show with footage of the clubs history from the past decade. Paul Day the Intercontinental champion is looking to add a British title to his new year list, Gary Hamilton and Gary Noade may well have a warm up bout to help preparation before the big double-dunter in March at the Ulster Hall. For info log onto ProKick.com or call Belfast 028 90651074 tickets are limited.

CELTS TO INVADE THE VIKINGS ForKicks can exclusively reveal - An Irish select is to make a long awaited return trip to the Vikings on February 9th. The two teams met twice last year and on both occasions they results panned out fairly evenly. The most eagerly awaited fight has to be that of Gary Hamilton who will face their No.1 Lightweight Ek Tossakan. Ek and Gary were to meet a few times previously but the bouts never went ahead. Ek twenty-five was born in Thailand but since emigrated to his new home of Norway a few years ago and having experience in Thai Boxing he soon found an interest for the more popular Full-Contact Style. He is a very talented fighter with 28 fights, 25 wins, 1 Draw and just three losses and has won a few major honours along the way. Gary is looking forward to his encounter. Gary Said. “I have seen Ek in action before, he has an awkward style and can take a good shot , it will be an interesting fight and a good warm-up before my first World title defence”. Gary is due to put his title on the line in March at the Ulster Hall.

WKN NEWS Northern Ireland’s kickboxing supremos are set to launch a fresh bid for recognition of the sport after a leading promoter called for competing factions to unite. The Northern Ireland Sports Council, an umbrella group for Ulster sport, refuses to recognize and fund kickboxing because it believes the different groups are too small and autonomous. Now Billy Murray of the World Kickboxing Network, the main governing body in the province and around the world, is calling upon all local Full-Contact kickboxing clubs to join his organization for the sake of the sport. The former world champion has built up his Northern Ireland operation on a shoestring, growing from one Belfast gym in 1982 to nine, province-wide. Only recently have corporate sponsors like the Holiday Inn come on board. Belfast City Council has backed the group, which holds shows in city-centre venues and attracts spectators and competitors from all over the world. Mr Murray hopes to present a united front to Sports Council officials who will review an application later this year. “Bringing in all the major players is crucial for the development of the sport,” he said. “Hopefully with a more unified approach from clubs across the province, and after fulfilling the stringent Belfast City Council criteria, the Sports Council should finally give us their blessing. “I want other instructors in both the north and south of Ireland to be part of the WKN. Together we can help the sport to reach even greater heights.” Kickboxing has had a high profile in the media recently, with Belfast WKN fighters Gary Hamilton and Gary Noade both winning world titles, and many competitors in the republic has won major honors. UTV sent a camera crew to France to cover Hamilton’s successful challenge and Sky Sports and the independent TV3 in the Republic have both carried increasing amounts of local kickboxing. For more information on how to get involved please contact the WKN regional office for the UK & Ireland on 028 90 651074 or email wkninfo@group.tm

THIS IS NOT KICKBOXING We have received many emails over the last few weeks, asking, what is the difference between - points fighting and semi-contact karate style fighting and are they kickboxing? We will address this subject over the next few weeks. If you have any views please drop us a line at the above email address.

SOME EVENT DATES ‘ForKicks’ said last week that we would bring you the dates to watch out for this year - WKN promoters Billy Murray, Peter Foley and Paul Cummins vow to continue their dedication to the development of the sport all over the Emerald Isle. Here’s just a few to put in your diary. January 31st Belfast Holiday Inn black tie dinner event. Febuary 9th Celts Vs Viking in Norway Febuary Prokick hits Scotland March 4th LeisureLand Galway March 26th Ulster Hall world championship April – Ireland Vs France in France May 6th LeisureLand Galway May Gary Hamilton and Prokick team competes in Switzerland June 4 - 6th All Ireland championships Ulster hall Belfast October 26th LeisureLand Galway More dates for your diary next week

RING WAR OVER Master Pete Foley of the Black Dragon Kickboxing Association in Galway, KO’d his long-term fiancée Cloddagh Dougan with the Christmas Cracker, The Black Dragon’s top man proposed to the current Ladies Irish kickboxing champion on Christmas Day. Cloddagh was blown away with emotion and gladly excepted the proposal. This is the second leading member of the association to announce their marriage in as many months. Paul Cummins the head instructor of the Kilkenny Club and former World Light-Middleweight champion told of his marriage to his fiancée only a few weeks ago. He ties the naught in May. Peter and Cloddagh haven’t set a date just yet though.

NEW CLUB & CLASS Three world champions, will open a new class in Bangor this week as Prokick continues to expand. Sessions will be held in the Castle Leisure Centre and former world champion Billy Murray, the head of Prokick, Gary Hamilton and Gary Noade who are currently world champions will be present. Gail Hagan will be the trainer at the centre. The black belt has been running the Newtownards gym since it opened in 2000 and is a certified instructor. She will still take the Newtownards class every Sunday. Mr Murray said the classes marked a new chapter in the sport’s development as it celebrates its tenth year. “We get a lot of inquiries from the north Down area. Newtownards is doing very well and we can’t wait to come to Bangor,” he said. Mrs Hagan said she was looking forward to the challenge. “It is exciting to be opening a new class,” she said. “Hopefully there will be a lot of beginners at the class and we are also encouraging people from the Newtownards class to come along for an extra session.” The club opens on January 13 & 16th . Classes will be held on Mondays and Thursdays from 6.30-7.30pm. If you are interested in taking up kickboxing or know someone who wants to get started, contact Prokick headquarters Tel. 028 90 651074. Also there's a new beginners class has just started at the ProKick in Wilgar street last Friday the 4th Jan - to book you place in the next class please call the above number.

SMALL SCREEN Well done Eurosport. Kickboxing fans were treated this week and last to the K1 from Japan, for those of you who are not familiar with the K1, its only heavyweight action +96kg and modified Thai-boxing rules apply. The K1 Grand -Prix is from the Tokyo Dome with just around 50,000 spectators and close to 500.000 thousand dollars to the winner of a knock-out style tournament. The WKN Super heavyweight world champion Jerome Labanner took second place and a cool 150,000 US for his troubles. If you missed the action don’t worry Europsport has again clinched the exclusive rights for a second year and plan even more than the 30 hours they screened in 2002. Tune in to Channel 5 tomorrow night at 12.45am as kickboxing coverage continues with action from Ali Jacko's promotions from around England as he show cases some of Britain’s to fighters. Will keep you informed three of Billy Murray’s events from Belfast will feature on the channel 5 series.

That’s it for another brief look at the world of kickboxing - ‘ keep your hands up and chin down’ If you have any information on kickboxing send it to the above email address.

If you are interested of joining the WKN, contact the regional office Tel. 028 90 651074 or if you have a information on kickboxing drop us an email to the above address.

Don't forget to check out the sunday people for a full report with pic's!

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