Today saw competition in TippSport Arena in two rings with a full day of exciting action for the first day of the European championships.

IFMA general secretary Stephan Fox said it was a successful opening day, and he was very pleased to see so many young and new faces on many of the teams. He praised the smooth running of the bouts, saying the hard work of the Czech Muaythai Federation was very obvious.

Ring B saw nine youth bouts in the 16 to 17 age category. Many of these young athletes including Kristiyan Georgiev (Bulgaria) were at their first international event and understandably a little tense but everything turned out fine on the day. Armenia’s youth team were also in action today, with three of their team in the junior division.

In the other ring Teresa Moreira (Portugal) and Mehmet Cihan Ceken (Turkey) competed for the first time in the senior section of the tournament, having previously competed successfully at the IFMA Youth Championships.

In Ring A the athletes from Montenegro made their debut at an European championships. Miloje Petrovic stepped in at 91kgs + against Russia’s Maksim Sazontzev. Lithuania had a good day in the rings, taking three wins including Martynas Jasiunas at 75kg.

Host team Czech Republic had lots of support in the crowd, and will carry onto tomorrow with the bulk of their athletes in action.

The Russian team also had a good day – echoing their national football’s team success  – taking eight wins across both male and female divisions.

Full results are available on  IFMA Live  and the programme with venue details etc is on EU Muaythai Prague.

Bouts start at 14:00  and can be watched on the IFMA Youtube channel.

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