Day Two on October 25th saw such a high standard of competition that the national TV station in Croatia extended its coverage by two hours.

Male and female athletes battled it out in 28 intense bouts across two rings for the afternoon and into the early evening.

Finland’s Teemu Hellevaara had a tough task facing Belarus champion Andrei Kulebin but really took the fight to him. Both fighters relied on heavy punch combos followed by body-kicks, with Kulebin especially working his left roundhouse kicks to stunning effect. This fight went to points with Kulebin taking the win.

One of the standout fights featured local boy Martin Carapina against Ukraine’s Karpych Rostyslav. This fight opened with two really graceful displays of Wai Khru, the traditional Thai dance to seal off the ring and prepare for battle.

And battle they did, with Carapina really using the teep kick to great effect for much of the fightm and closing in with body-shots from both hands. However Rostyslav was far from intimidated firing back with a steady barrage of punches and using his right elbow really well in some very technical moves.

And as the fight went on Rostyslav began to pull away, taking the fight on points.
There were seven women’s bouts with athletes from ten different countries.

Eliska Pelechova from Czech Republic put on a great show against Belgium’s Kelly Danioko, but not quite close enough with Danioko taking a one-point victory – mainly on the strength of her leg-kicks and outside work-rate.

Anaelle Angerville from France also had a tough battle on her hands against Tereza Dvorakova from Czech Republic. But unluckily for the Czech team, the results went to France.

So two days down now, and already it’s clear the medals will be distributed among a wide range of countries with good mix heading into Day Three.

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