Famous Muaythai promoter Kim Ip, under the full sanctioning of the WMC, IFMA, FAMA and the Hong Kong Muaythai Association kicked off the year with a gala event at the International Trade Exhibition Centre. It was the first round of pre-qualifications for the upcoming SportAccord World Combat Games and the centre was filled to bursting point.
The event was televised to China and delayed televised on ESPN.
The lineup for the 71 kg division was: Ilya Grad (Israel), Sebastian Harms-Mendez (Germany), Fabio Siciliani (Italy) and Faisal Ramli (Malaysia). In the first fight, Ilya beat Sebastian, and Faisal won against Fabio. It all came down to the final, between Ilya Grad and Faisal Ramli, both television celebrities from the Emmy award nominated show “The Challenger Muaythai”. Ilya won the fight, putting him into the top ten for pre-qualifications for Saint Petersburg.
The Super 4 in the 60 kg division was between these four fighters:
Yodkumarn MTP2004 (Thailand), Alexander Epp (Germany), Frank Vilchez (Peru) and Gery Bavetta (Italy).
Yodkumarn beat Gery, and Alexander lost against Frank. In the final showdown between Thailand’s Yodkumarn versus Peru’s Frank, it was a non-stop action fight which Thailand won by a split decision. The night showed how much Muaythai in South America has improved.
The main supporting fight of the night was in the female SportAccord pre-qualifying divisions, between Hong Kong’s Venus Tsang and Thailand’s Dauwlung Sitpholek. This female fight showed how much the popularity of female Muaythai has grown, it was the fight of the night. Venus Tsang won, putting her solidly in the pre-qualification race for the 2013 SportAccord World Combat Games, a blow for Thailand, but showing how much Muaythai has improved in the Chinese speaking countries.
