9-10 December 2017 in Ekaterinburg, Russia in Metropolitan Sport Hall the third unification KWU Kyokushin World Championship were organized with participation of 242 fighters from 48 countries. This great event was comparable to the Olympic Games. The event was prepared very professionally and the audience had a chance to appreciate the advantage of lightings settings, cameras, live broadcast (e.g. replays in slow motion of the most interesting elements of fights). It all gave satisfaction to about five thousand spectators and countless viewers of the event who followed live broadcast on the Internet.

7 December 5 buses repainted in the colors of the championships took everyone from Airport to the Riviera Convention Center. December 8 was devoted to active rest i.e. morning warm-up, sightseeing, medical checkups, organizational issues and an organizational general meeting for all competitors, judges and organizers.

On the first day of the Championship, December 9, qualifications fights were held on three mats. The fights were full of surprises. On the second day there was a spectacular opening ceremony (professional dancers and mimes doing their show referring to the Japanese martial arts). The most impressing show was prepared by the famous Japanese Taiko drum group who implemented a lot of visual effects. The official opening of the World Championships and raise of the KWU flag was executed by the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Yuri Trutniev, President KWF Antonio Pinero, President IKF David Pickthall and President KKI Hatsuo Royama. The face of the Championships was a famous actor Dolph Lundgren, who supports the initiative of TIME TO BE UNITED.

The 14 final fights took place on one mat. They were dominated by Russians. The KWF fighters won 16 medals. Also the awards were given to the contestants in a very nice atmosphere. The awards were presented by the aforementioned shihans and shihan Andre Drewniak, shihan Koen Scharremberg, shihan Romas Vitkauskas and shihan Hennie Bossman. As part of the accompanying events, an International Judges Course, the KWU Board Meeting and the Press Conference were held.

After that there was held a solemn Sayonara in the Center where participants received films with their fights and best championship spots.

A local and central TV stations, radio and press informed about the course of events and accompanying other events for two days. The costs of accommodation of all participants in Jekaterinburg were covered by the Kyokushin World Union. The organizer of event was KWU General Secretary Sergey Suvorov and his Team.

Gallery

On 18 of November in "MIKA" sports complex in Yerevan unprecedented in its qualitative and quantitative competitions was held the Armenian Championship.

The event was attended by the Adviser of the Mayor of Yerevan, Sport Coordinator Gor Vardanyan, members of the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs, representatives of various administrative districts of Yerevan, all the representatives and members of the Armenian Kyokushin Asssociacion, as well as representatives of the Artsakh Federation and other honorable guests.

 The opening ceremony was held by Sensei Spartak Gasparyan with an impressive performance, under the banner and flag of the Republic of Armenia.

The organizer, the participants, the President of the Armenian Federation Spartak Gasparyan and the Mayor of Yerevan Taron Margaryan welcomed the greetings of the Mayor's Advisor and Sports Coordinator Gor Vardanyan.

The Armenian Championship was attended by hundreds of paricipants from all regions and naturally from Artsakh. The event began with a spectacular, impressive speeches, followed by the original tournament. 
The struggle for the cups was very hot and after about 12 hours of struggle, the winners were announced and they will represent Armenia in various international tournaments.

Congratulations to all the participants, wish you new achievements and special thanks to present guests, who with their active participation encouraged participants.
We are confident that the federation will have such great events, as it grows and grows year after year.

Osu. CR Spartak Gasparyan

GALERY

During the 31st European Championship, on 12.10.2017, there were held two meetings: EKF Board Meeting and KWF Board Meetinf, and on 13.10.2017 - KWF General Meeting in the presence of 32 Country Representatives. The Chairman of the meeting was shihan Antonio Pinero and shihan Andre Drewniak was Secretary Genara. On behalf of the KWF Board Vive-President Antonio Pinero submitted an annual activity report for 2016 and a preliminary activity plan for 2018. An event report for 2016 was submitted by Secretary General Andre Drewniak. Reports and budget estimates were approved and new Country Representatives were appointed. All present CRs participated in the discussion.

On 15.10.2017, during the official opening ceremony of the Championship, Shihan Antonio Pinero and Shihan Andre Drewniak were honored with the rank of the 9th dan, and Shihans Hristo Traikov, Lars Hogquist, Leslaw Samitowski, and Noriyuki Tanaka were honored with the 7th dan.

On 13-14 October 2017 in the Ahlbeck Sports and Entertainment Hall (Germany), next to Swinoujscie (Poland), the 31st Kyokushin European Championships were held. 412 competitors from 24 countries fought in 37 weight categories and kata, divided by age groups: seniors, juniors, younger juniors and youngsters. After a short performance of the Polish Navy Orchestra, the opening ceremony of the Championships was made by the Mayor of Swinoujscie Janusz Zmurkiewicz, the Mayor of Ahlbeck Lars Petersen and the President of the European Kyokushin Federation shihan Antonio Pinero. Among honorary guests were Shihan Hristo Traikov (Bulgaria), shihan Leslaw Samitowski (USA), shihan Lars Hogquist (Norway), shihan Andre Drewniak (Poland), sensei Mauricio Alvarada (Costa Rica) and shihan Noriyuki Tanaka (Japan) Taiko, who opened the Championships by striking a Taiko drum.

President Antonio Pinero handed in artistic cups to the President of Swinoujscie, the Mayor of Ahlbeck, members of the KWF Board, shihan W?odzimierz Roj, shihan Robert Wajgelt, sensei Andrzej Klujszo and others to appreciate their efforts to prepare and organize the European Championships and promote Kyokushin in Poland and Europe. In connection with 35 year celebration of Swinoujscie Kyokushin Center, its founder and animator of twelve international tournaments and three national championships sensei Pawel Sujka was awarded an artistic epergne by the President of PFK shihan Andre Drewniak and a samurai sword by the President of Regional Karate Federation sensei Andrzeja Klujszo.

The Championships were held under the patronage of MSiT and the Embassy of Japan. The main judge was shihan Antonio Pinero. It is worth mentioning that the event was prepared exceptionally well (i.e. a morning training on the beach accompanied by a horse riding club and Taiko drum sounds, sports hall decorations combined with professional lighting systems, computerized event processing and fast printout of results, artistic cups and medals for participants, accommodation and full board at a new five-star Radisson Blu Hotel, conducting a KWF General Meeting during an evening cruise on Chateaubriand ship, providing coverage of the event by three TV and two radio stations, Sayonara and disco, fireworks, delivering a final report for Teleexpress news program and 30-minute coverage presented by the first national Polish TV channel TVP1.

Among many sponsors and city authorities supporting the event was the Platinum Sponsor Radisson Blu Hotel Swinoujscie and they should be distinguished. The direct organizer of the championships was the Swinoujska Akademia Kyokushin with its President Marek Antoniuk.

The 32nd European Kyokushin Championships will be held on 25-26 May 2018 in Bucharest, Romania, and the next Kyokushin KWF World Championships will take place on 2-3 November 2018 in Astana, Kazakhstan.  

RESULTS

From the 7th to the 10th of July, the West European Summer Camp was took place for the 50^th time led by Shihan Loek Hollander. The first time was in 1968 in Ermelo, here also Sosai Oyama was president, who was then just attended with sensei.

The West European summer camp was the first to launch a long tradition of summer camps throughout the world, many countries and organizations followed this example. This summer camp is famous worldwide because of the tremendous intensity of training and the hardness of the black belt promotion tests. Many special training courses were given here for the first time, such as training in an inflatable tennis hall that is boiled up to 60 degrees Celsius, but also military training with tree trunks. These trainings have now passed the whole world.

The concept of Kyokushin summer camp of Shihan Hollander still fits modern times. This year, the Dutch Kyokushin Karate Organization (NKKO) has created a special program in which Kyokushin is the center of friendship of the past and for the future. We therefore borrowed the theme: "Time to reunite" from the KWU. After all, many black belts and famous shihans from all over the world have shed their blood, sweat and tears on Papendal and achieved a dan-degree here.

The NKKO invited a number of guest instructors this year to make this 50th camp special. Shihan Piñero, Shihan Lezkano, Sensei Pablo Estensoro and Sensei Jonathan Tineo have given fantastic lessons. But also, Kyokushin friends from other organizations like Shihan Koen Scharrenberg, Koen Spitaels, Peter Voogd and Fernando Alonso and Jerome de Timmerman made this camp a good camp in which many have found each other. How nice would it be if we were to give this cooperation more content in the future, didn't Sosai Oyama ever meant this?

A total of around 160 participants have been present from more than 10 countries to participate in this intensive training program, for example the hot air tent training by Shihan Loek Hollander which has not been given for more than 10 years.

Another highlight was the presence on Sunday morning of the Dutch IFK (NKA) who traveled with all the participants from their summer camp to Papendal to train together with us. Sensei Darren Stringer was their guest instructor and together with our Spanish instructors they did a fantastic training and created a great atmosphere with about 250 karateka's from IFK and KWF.

The most beautiful moment during this camp was during the party on Saturday night. Only a few were aware of what was going to happen. All shihans were present in their dogi and were upheld when Shihan Antonio Piñero, chairman of the KWF, spoke. He addressed Shihan Loek Hollander and praised him for his commitment to Kyokushin, a lifetime of his mission that our Shihan Hollander of Sosai Oyama himself received: "Enter the world and make Kyokushin big." On behalf of the all members of the KWF, Shihan Piñero presented the 10^th dan to Shihan Loek Hollander who was visibly surprised but also touched. A beautiful moment that many have closed in their hearts.

 The 50^th summer camp is now behind us and is one of the most beautiful camps I have ever experienced (since 1983). We are looking forward to the future in which we can celebrate the cooperation and friendships we experienced, and so we celebrate and honor the legacy of Sosai Oyama to make Kyokushin even more bigger and stronger in this world.

The 51st summer camp will be held from 12th to 15th July 2018. See you then OSU!

On behalf of the Dutch Kyokushin Karate Organization

Paul Lorist

Secretary of the board.