Silver medalist at TWG2017, Vasyl Sorokin took gold in Cancun

Muaythai participated at The World Games for the first time last year, and the experience gained by those athletes clearly showed at this year’s muaythai championships when many made the podium again. 

Taking part in the 2017 TWG in Wroclaw was a great experience for all concerned, and the athletes really learned a lot about competing in pressure situations.

Among those showing their experience at the Cancun World Championships were Vasyl Sorokin from Ukraine. He fought his way to silver at TWG2017, but claimed gold in Cancun . Lukasz Radosz (Poland) took silver in Wroclaw last year,  and moved up to gold in Cancun also at 86kg.

Turkey’s Ali Dogan retained his gold medal at 86kg, facing the same opponent in Constantine Nanga from Sweden. At 57kg Wiwat Khamtha (Thailand) also retained his gold medal status. For Mexican athlete Ivan Molina – Valenzuela the home support boosted him onto the medal table in Cancun, taking bronze this year.

And at 54kg TWG champion Yelaman Sayassatov (Kazakhstan) climbed the podium again, taking silver this time.

In the women’s divisions Sofia Olofsson (Sweden) and Svetlana Vinnikova (Russia) continued to dominate their weight divisions, both taking gold again. Nili Block (Israel) who won bronze in Wroclaw took gold in Cancun, a successful defence of her IFMA title. Vietnam’s Bui Yen Ly took silver again in Cancun, a repeat of her TWG result to her disappointment.

Gold again for TWG Athlete of the Year Sofia Olofsson, awarded by IFMA’s Stephan Fox

Unfortunately not all of TWG medal-winners had a successful outing in Cancun, showing the unpredictability of sport. No doubt we will see these young athletes again later in the year at the European Championships in Prague and the Asian Championships in Macau.

The next edition of The World Games takes place in 2021 in Birmingham Alabama USA  – and some of these athletes may also be on their national teams for that event.

Catch up with results from Cancun 2018 on IFMA LIve, and follow IFMA on social media for behind-the-scenes updates:

IFMA Facebook  IFMA Instagram IFMA TWitter and of course watch back the action on IFMA Youtube