INTERNATIONAL BUDO FEDERATION UK/British CombatSombo Association
1st Grappling Championships
Sunday November 9th 2008
Sittingbourne Kent
The IBF in the UK is unique in that not only does it have the capacity to deal with the Martial Arts it also offer various Grappling Sports and for the First Time Ever they hosted a Jacket Grappling Tournament which was not only unique to the UK but was the first of its kind in the World. There were 4 different types of Jacket Grappling on display JUDO (Japanese Jacket Grappling) Sombo (Russian Jacket Grappling) KURASH (Jacket Grappling from Uzbekistan) BELT WRESTLING (Asian Belt Wrestling) it was hoped to have Sport CombatSombo this punching and Kicking as well as Grappling but we only had two entries for this so it was cancelled.
JUDO: This Jacket Wrestling Martial Art came from Japan and was invented by Jigaro Kano and consists of Throws, Ground Holds and submission by arm lock, strangle or choke. Scoring is in Japanese which can be hard to follow and is normally deemed a very upright sport with restrictions on holding positions, the most popular of al grappling systems. Competitors wear Blue or White Judogi (Jacket Trousers and belt)
SOMBO: Founder Oshchepkov was from Russia and trained with Kano the founder of Judo on his return to the Soviet Union he was asked to develop a Self Defence Grappling system for the Military, he based his system on Judo but added many of the other different styles of Grappling seen in the various regions of the Soviet Union such as Tuvin kuresh, Yakuts khapsagay, Chuvash akatuy, Georgian chidaoba, Moldavian trinte, Azeri kokh, and Uzbek kurash to name a few. Scoring is 1 pt, 2pt, 4pt and total victory a simple system to understand, throws groundwork, submission with leg and arm lock. Known for its high throws and powerful hand grips and famed for its devasting leg locks. Competitors wear Kurtka, Red or Blue tight fitting Jackets (to resemble Army fatigues) shorts and soft soled boots.
KURASH: Is an Kurash is an ancient type of upright jacket grappling which originated in the territory of modern Uzbekistan is said to be thousands of years old. Kurash rules prohibit any actions on the floor. Action is allowed only in standing position – there is no groundwork, and only throws and leg sweeps can be used by players. Any techniques using arm lock, chocking and kicking, as well as grips below the belt is strictly prohibited. All it makes Kurash a simple, friendly, interesting, dynamic and safe sport to practice. Modern Kurash has adapted a Judo Style Uniform and competitors wear Blue or Green Jacket tied with a red Belt and white trousers to represent the Uzbek National Flag, commands are given in the Uzbek language.
BELT WRESTLING: There are many forms of Belt Wrestling throughout the World some are done with jackets and some just in shorts other similar styles are where you link your arms around each other i.e. Cumberland West Mooreland Wrestling, Highland Wrestling are two British Styles. 10 years ago Martin Clarke introduced a style of Belt Wrestling he name Kent Belt Wrestling this was done in shorts but some years ago Eastern Block and Asian Countries got together to form the International Belt Wrestling Federation and that’s the system the IBF adheres to. Belt Wrestlers wear a Judo Style Uniform with a loose fitting belt, each competitor hold to each others belt once this is done the match begins. The winner is the competitor who first scores 2 points, this is done by throwing your opponent with letting go of the belt, and because they are in tight together you can see some real big throws.
The Sittingbourne Warriors Grappling academy and Young Judo Club based at the Swale Martial Arts Club East Street Sittingbourne were favourites to win most medals as they are the club in the UK to practise all the various styles. The biggest event was as expected the Judo and we saw a fine display of this Japanese Martial Art and this was fought of first then came the other styles. There was still some Judo purists who think that doing another Jacket wrestling Sport will bastardised their Judo Skills, frankly a ludicrous idea backed up by the fact that the most skilful Judo players were winning most of the other events as well.
Each Style did have its quirkiness, Competitors who specialised in groundwork and had a decent throw preferred the Judo and Sombo because they could go to the floor, big throwers who some times would be cautious in Judo and Sombo, because of the ground work, could throw caution to the wind in Kurash as there was no ground play and the real strong competitors could utilise their strength in Belt Wrestling, this type of grappling would certainly favour Power lifters and Olympic Weightlifters. A prime example of this was Ashley Costa who is one of our best Judo, Sombo and Kurash Players has excellent throws and is a master of the arm lock he had already beaten Daniel Diamond Faversham Judo Club several times and he was to meet him in the Belt Wrestling final, everything pointed to Ashley winning again but NO Daniel had taken to the Belt wrestling like a Duck to water in his first Belt Wrestling tournament and dispensed with Ashley to take gold. As of yet GB has never sent a team to the World Belt Wrestling Championships because we did not have the players but if we have players like Daniel taking an interest who know maybe in a couple of years?
Warriors Grappling Coach John Clarke won the Judo, Kurash and Belt Wrestling event it was an unique event for him for both his sons also entered 6 year old Harry won a Bronze in the Judo while 8 year old Lewis win Silver Judo, Gold Kurash, Gold Sombo, Gold Belt Wrestling he definitely is following in the long tradition of the Clarke Family.
On entering each style you got 20 pts for Gold, 10 pts for Silver, 5pts for Bronze
Veteran Champion John Clarke Sittingbourne 60pts
Senior Joint Champion Ashley Costa Sittingbourne 50pts, Daniel Diamond 50pts Faversham
Espoir Champion Jamie Mazetti 65 pts Sittingbourne
Junior Champion Ben Franks 80pts Sittingbourne
The day was very exciting and enjoyable but Keith Costa competition organiser was a little down beat in the numbers were not what he expected, it seems the recession has made people very careful with their money so near Christmas. It is also very noticeable the attitudes of parents have changed over the years; 20 years ago a parent would come to the tournament at 9 am and expect to be at the event till the evening. Not now they complain if they are their longer then two hours, some will not even allow their children to enter if the event is expected to go into the afternoon as for travelling out of the town!! Another noticeable drawback since the Governing Body introduced Age Groups Parents and coaches have become obsessed with their child staying in their own age group and weight even if means not allowing them to compete, years ago children would compete in 8 years to 15 years weight groups there was no complaints, hardly any injuries and about 10 times the amount of competitors.
Rather then put our head in the sand and wait for the old days to return, Keith Costa and Martin Clarke will not be running any Big Judo Events next year they will try and cater for the new generation to Keep Judo alive and kicking. They shall be running much smaller events at the Swale Martial Arts Club which will last just a few hours and be at a more affordable price for example competitions for Grades and weights i.e. White and Yellow belt tournament, we will also run age tournaments only divided into weights this way it will maybe encourage more children to compete those who still wish to compete in big events and Governing Body tournaments will still be encouraged.
On Sunday December 7th at the Swale Martial Arts Club John Clarke and Colin Carrott will be hosting a Sombo Wrestling and Combat Sombo Course for just £25, The Warriors Grappling Academy and Young Judo Club will be hosting a Joint Presentation Dinner at the Cherry Tree Restaurant East Street Sittingbourne on January 10th,the two clubs have the sole use of the Restaurant which be staging some Live Music from CARA led by that famous local singer STEPHEN FINLAY, CARA will also be playing at the WARRIORS CLUB BAR on Christmas Eve 1pm till 5pm
Forthcoming Events for Sittingbourne
IBF Open Kurash and Belt Wrestling Tournament Juniors, Senior and Veterans
March 1st Sittingbourne Community College
British Open Sombo Wrestling Championships April 19th Swallows Sittingbourne
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Saturday, 8 February 2014
2008 Grappling Championship
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