Hastings kickboxing Academy travelled to Germany to compete in the ICO World Series.
Gee Denne, Tyler Hughes and lain Carpenter travelled to Frankfurt along with 150 English competitors to challenge the rest of the world in the ICO First World Tournament.
In two full days of competition over 100 of England’s strongest fighters were there to battle it out against over 20+ countries. The strongest groups were France, Poland, Russia and of course ourselves.
First in for battle was Tyler Hughes getting through the first round by the skin of his teeth. In to the quarter finals matched against a sharp French guy who won the bout and went onto win the gold in the final. Tyler walks away with bronze medal.
Iain carpenter had a long hard day through the tournament. Ending up in the finals and battled hard for all 3 rounds. On his front foot pushing, forwards all the time. It was very hard to call who had won the bout as the other man had some good techniques. It ended in a split decision. Carpenter gutted but also happy to walk away with a ICO silver medal
Fellow fighter in the town, Luke Read travelled with HKA and the team had a fantastic day getting into the final, knocking out his man in the 2nd round in spectacular fashion. Crowning Read the ICO World Gold Champion.
England as a team came home with around 85% of the medals. Taking full domination of the weekend and winning over 70 medals. The Warriors Gym from Herne Bay that HKA work alongside with, came home with 14 medals from 14 fighters.
Instructor Carl Denne said. It was a proud weekend for me. Being part of such a strong and skilled team. This was the first time I’ve taken my own fighters into European waters to compete in such a big competition and to come away with a bronze and silver world champion is a massive achievement for the fighters and the club.
