Thrills and spills were the order of the day in Kazan during Day Two as the competition ramped up across the two rings.

Ring B opened with a string of female bouts including France taking on Russia .

 

Naturally there are lots of Russian supporters in the crowd, but even though the Juliette Lacroix from France had fewer people they were still passionate!

This bout was a real example of the power of the grapple with both Lacroix and Mathushina Polina taking the fight to the centre of the ring from the first bell. France took a points win.

The organizing committee arranged for the arenda to be covered in glorious shades of pink and purple, with strong echos of muaythai’s Asian heritage. Sketched around the hoardings are temples reminiscent of the Buddhist temples found along Bangkok’s Chao Phraya river. And two large dragons guard the top of the steps where the athletes and their coaches enter the arena before each bo

The logo of The World Games 2017 is also visible in the arena, and around the athletes’ hotel. Naturally every winner at these early stages is now wondering if he or she can take one of those coveted spots. Ahtletes have been posing for pictures with Hansel and Gretel, the mascots for the games – dreaming, dreaming.

Another exciting bout in the women’s contest took place at 60kgs between world champion Nili Block from Israel and European champion Russia’s Ekaterina Vinnikova with a points win going to Israel.
Youssef Binate and Seka Yapi representing Cote D’Ivoire were both in action in Ring A, with Binate taking a win against Tajikistan but Yapi losing on points to Kazakhstan’s Akzhanov Rustem.

Fight 9 in Ring A saw Latvia’s Sadihovs Zaurs taking on Atayew Nurgeldi from Turkmenistan in a battle of the hands.  Nurgeldi elied heavily on his right hand, throwing looping punches and following with leg sweeps, but Lativa took the win cleanly.

The Iranian coaches had a busy day as they were in action eight times across male and female bouts including one set of back to back fights. No pressure.

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