The upcoming SENI Combat and Strength Show promises to be one of the largest martial arts-related events in the U.K. this year. And as if there wasn’t enough anticipation, it just added another major event to its roster in the form of the first-ever K-1 amateur championships!
One of the world’s largest promoters of full-contact kickboxing, K-1 was originally founded in 1993 by Kazuyoshi Ishii, also well-known as the founder of Seidokaikan Karate. In the two decades since, K-1 has seen the emergence of some of the world’s premiere kickboxing champions such as Remy Bonjansky, Mark Hunt, Ernesto Hoost, and Ishii’s own student, the late Andy Hug.
In the following statement, K-1 explains what its first ever amateur competition will entail:
“The first official K-1 Open World Amateur Championships will take place at the London Soccerdome on the 13th & 14th September 2014 as part of the SENI Combat & Strength show.
It will be open to all clubs, associations and organisations worldwide and will include divisions for men, women and children.”
SENI promoter Mr Paul Alderson said “…we are really pleased to be hosting the inaugural K-1 Open in London it’s a great addition to the number of World Class Martial Arts and Combat Sports events that make up the SENI show.”
K-1 Global Director of Events Mr Ned Kuruc said K-1 has never done a Amateur World Championships before or endorsed an Amateur Championships, there might be a lot of K-1 Rules champions out there, but this is the first official K-1 Open World Championships, the first time K-1 will officially recognise Amateur Champions. Muay Thai, Karate, Kung fu, Kickboxing, Boxing, Taekwondo, Savate, Kyokushin and all Martial Artists can now test their skills under official K-1 rules and become a real K-1 Champion.
The adult categories will be separated by A class and B class with weight divisions for men and women, Junior and Cadet categories will be separated by age, weight and level of contact permitted.
The K-1 Open World Amateur Championships will be pre-entry only, weigh-in and registration on be on Friday the 12th September 2014.
For more information on the upcoming competition, visit K-1’s official website, or the SENI Combat and Strength show official website.
