African titles at Desert Storm 1
A Professional World title fight, three African Kickboxing title fights (Sub-Sahara) and national qualifiers took place on Saturday for all affiliates of the Namibian Kickboxing Federation (NFK). The event was hosted at the Jan Wilken Sport Hall in Walvis Bay.
The event carries the name Desert Storm an was hosted for the first time under the auspices of the NFK. Participants and spectators described the event as a huge success and of an international standard. Desert Storm is now an annual event.
Three Namibian Kickboxers became African Champions at the event.
More than 150 fighters from Namibia, Angola, Brazil, Zimbabwe, USA, Reunion and South Africa contested in this historic event.
Participants engaged in semi-contact, points, full contact, low kicks, Kata-series, fitness competitions, Krav Maga and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
The World Kickboxing Champion Brandon Mashele retained his title against Hendrick Clain from Reunion with a technical knock-out in the first round.
Delano Müller from Namibia is the new Atomic- weight African Kickboxing Champion, after he won his first African title fight against Thabiso Mkwebane from South Africa.
The Africa Super Lightweight Kickboxing Champion is Lesley !Hoaeb from Namibia after he knocked-out Nico Bezuidenhout from South Africa in the fourth round of their fight.
The other African title went to Julian Müller from Namibia who is the Super Middleweight African Kickboxing Champion after beating Johan Scholtz from South Africa. Delano Müller, Lesley! Hoaeb and Julian Müller not only won these African Tittles, but they are currently amateur World Title holders as well.
The President of the NFK, Anita de Klerk, said the following: “The NKF plans to take kickboxing to higher levels and to compete at international level as many times as possible. However, we need companies and individuals to step in with sponsorships, to help us make this dream come true. Students from NKF will strive to motivate, teach and set an example to other martial arts students and the youth in general of Namibia”.
De Klerk also mentioned all students did exceptional at Desert Storm and held Namibia’s image high. A national team will be selected soon to compete at international events.
She expressed gratitude to everyone who contributed towards the success of this first ever Desert Storm event.
The President of Ring Contact Fighting Arts International, Master Joe Viljoen, mentioned Desert Storm is the way forward for kickboxing in Africa. The aim for next year is to get more countries to participate. He encourages other African countries to come up with competitions to the likes of Desert Storm. also said that more countries in Africa should host events like the Namibian Desert Storm.
Sheila Martins from the Combat Club in Windhoek said: “The entire experience significantly exceeded all our expectations. Seven of our fighters competed in this well-organised event. We returned home with one loss by points and a whopping five wins by technical knockout (TKO) in the full contact division, and one win in the close combat division by points. We would like to express our sincere gratitude and congratulations to the event organisers, all the fighters and the supporters for being involved. It was an honour to be part of such a superb event that places Namibia on the map once again”.
However, I was very disappointing that the Namibian Sports Commission were not represented at the event. A lack of funds was given as the reason for its absence.
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