Report JUDGEMENT DAY Romania 2009

The 5th edition of the international kickboxing tournament Judgement Day Romania took place on the 21st and 22nd of november 2009. The tournament was held at Sala Rapid in Bucharest and gathered sportsmen from 20 clubs from Romania and 9 other from Great Britain, India, Mexic, Portugal and Bulgaria.

Judgement Day Romania has its model in the british competition with the same name. In Great Britain there are over 1400 sportsmen every year that come specially for this spectacular and powerful competition which offers them a chance to stand in front. Starting from this example, the Sports Club Jissen Do with its president Mr. Adrian Dejanu are organising the romanian variant of Judgement Day hoping to promote martial arts in Romania.

 During the competition, Shihan Brian Beck, the promoter of Judgement Day England and WAKO Chief Referee has supervised the three fighting areas. Moreover, he offered a chance to everyone to take part in an referee seminar. Everyone who attended this seminar was awarded Junior Judge Certificate.

With a total of 424 competitors this tournament had two new sections, brand new for Romania: Light Kick and Team Fight. Although new, the two sections were very much appreciated as much sportsmen attended both of them. The Light Kick section was a succes because even though the regulations permit low kick the sportsmen with ages between 16 and 45 years have proven a high level of technical and physical training, all these gathered in challenging and fair-play fights.

The combat was harsh in the Team Fight section. In the first fight the Romanian Team won against the Bulgarian Team with a very tight score. In the final, the Romanian Team fought against the English Team. The sportsmen gave all their best showing maximum speed, high technical training and a winner spirit.

 In the rest of the contact sections the combat was also tight, each sportsman winning his prise through hard work and commitment. In the Creative Forms sections, the English sportsmen have shown what is true meaning of Musical Forms teaching the other participants an important lesson. All forms were amazing and reached a peak with the performance of Emily Thew, the world champion in Creative Forms with weapons.

 For the first time in Traditional Forms section a maximum grade has been awarded. In a category with more than 15 competitors, the fight for the 1st place was tight and finally the sportsman Bucura Costin won followed closely by other top class sportsmen. Top class referees from Romania and other countries enforced the WAKO rules for the good ongoing of the competition. Although it took longer than we have expected all the participant clubs said that this tournament was a succes and all the waiting worth. We hope to see you next year on the ocasion of a new Judgement Day edition !

 Daniela Budeanu

Jissen Do Press Officer