Martial arts trio to go to Philippines
Three Newark Martial Arts Club fighters already rule Britain and now they are to take on the best in the world after a personal invitation from the president of The Philippines to showcase their skills in full contact kickboxing a week today.
Club coach Dean Sugden said that it was “a real honour” for the youngsters — two of them his sons — to be invited to make the trip.
“When we were competing in Thailand, the president of the Philippines approached me personally about bringing my fighters over to showcase them at the WOF Asian Intercontinental event,” said Sugden.
The trio — Chad Sugden, Danny Swanwick and Regis Sugden — will compete in the full contact kickboxing special bout category to open the Asian Games which will be attended by thousands of people and covered by Asia TV.
Swanwick (12) will fight against Clark Sapetin, the under-47kg Philippines kickboxing champion, Regis Sugden (13) will compete against Deo Jonathan Unay, the under-50kg Philippines kickboxing champion, and Chad Sugden (14) will be up against Solomon Dulca (15) the under-55kg Asia kickboxing champion.
Swanwick is the current EFK British Junior Champion and was the IMGC/WMF gold medallist in Bangkok earlier this year.
Regis Sugden is the current ISKA English, BLCC English and EFK British champion and was an IMGC/WMF gold medallist in Bangkok.
Chad Sugden is the undisputed British champion and holds the BLCC, two WKA and ISKA British titles, the EFK Commonwealth title and was a gold medal winner at the IMGC/WMF games in Bangkok. Chad was also the silver medallist at the Golden Gloves national boxing tournament this year, and his father is excited by what the future holds for his young fighters.
“These kids could genuinely be Olympians if kickboxing finds its way into the Olympics,” said Sugden, who is also coach of the Great Britain team.
“There is a lot of work going on behind the scenes, and that would be fantastic for a small town like Newark.
“After my recent meeting with Lord Seb Coe, I feel confident that all could be in place for 2012.
“We are edging our bets with Chad and Regis who are both boxing, just in case Kickboxing does not become an Olympic sport.
“We are also looking to become a centre of excellence for kickboxing and amateur boxing at Newark Martial Arts Club.
“This year has been great, with us coming back from Thailand with four gold medals and having Jordan Frost and Sophie Webb chosen to represent ISKA GB in Czech Republic also in August and also Lewis Fallon who has been chosen to represent WAKO GB in Naples”.
