By JOEL K ANDREW
THE Papua New Guinea Kickboxing Federation has successful completed the Southern Regional Championship at the Bomana CIS Training College Hall in Port Moresby.
This event served as a prelude to the upcoming National Kickboxing Championship, scheduled to take place around the middle of this year, with specific dates yet to be confirmed.
Numerous Kickboxing Clubs from the region enthusiastically participated, showcasing their top-notch fighters across various divisions of Kickboxing. The event featured both male and female divisions, bringing an exciting and diverse array of talent to the competition on the eve of the fights.
The championship showdown started around 9am in the morning and ended around 5pm in the afternoon. A full house kick boxing fans were present during the showdown to cheer their clubs.
The GBC Toks Kick Boxing Club dominated wins on all weight divisions of the championships and so were crowned winners of the Southern Regional Kick Boxing Championships. Desert Storm Kick Boxing Club came trailing behind on the second placing.
The day’s main event saw two senior kick boxing champions in Papua New Guinea in the likes of Alex Warogop also known as the ‘Holy Warrior’ going heads on with Marrice ‘The Iceman’ Terry, who returned back into the ring after ten years of being away from Kick Boxing.
Warogop’s fast jabs and hooks earned him the upper hand till the second round as Terry retired by handing over win to Warogop, since he lost consistency and momentum to continue round three of action. Young Alex Warogop was crowned winner as his hands were raised to a glorious sky that evening by senior referee and one time Karate expert Master Jamuka Stone.
Warogop who is the trainer for the Macgeregor Boxing and Kick Boxing Club in Port Moresby thanked PNG Kick Boxing federation under the leadership of Stanley Nandex for making available such avenues for the development of Kick boxing code in the country.
“I’d like to commend Cheif Nandex and the PNGKBF for always supporting raw talents through such avenues, as it plays a vital role in keeping youths away from illicit activities,” Warogop said.
President of PNG Kick Boxing Championship and General Secretary for World Kick Boxing Federation Oceania Stanley Nandex said during the Southern Regional Championships launching that the PNG KBF looks forward to host two more regional championships.
Nandex stated that this was aimed at assembling a national team, which will undergo additional scrutiny to form the final international team representing Papua New Guinea at the upcoming World Kickboxing Championships scheduled to take place in Spain later this year.
However, Nandex highlighted that there’s certain standard processes involved in the selection panel before fighters are qualified to travel on this international world championship that different top athletes around the world in this sporting code will be competing.
“The best fighters in all divisions from the Southern, Momase, and Highlands regional championships will be selected to represent their region and compete in the National Championships around mid, this year,” he said.
“The top fighters in the national championships will be short-listed and go into further screening processes to make the final cut, to travel out to Spain later this year for the World Kick Boxing Championships.”
Nandex applauded participating athletes from different kickboxing clubs throughout the region for competing well in the Southern Regional Championships.
He further thanked the main sponsors of the event including IBS University, Ultimax Security Services, Gobe Field Engineering and Trophy Haus for their consistent support and timely investment towards hosting the Southern Regional Championships as well as for the development of this sport.
He mentioned that the PNGKBF is eagerly anticipating hosting the two remaining regional championships and the national championships, aligning with their preparations for the forthcoming World Championships in Spain later this year.
