By Reuben Azzopardi

Gladiators’ Night has come and gone, strikes to the body were given and scores settled. Out of the numerous matches that were held during the event the Ying Yang Kickboxing Club reaped what it has sown and won the lion’s share of the victories.

In June the Malta Kickboxing Association (MKBA) organized the National Kickboxing and K1 Championship. The event was “Gladiators’ Night”, and was a success due to the number of spectators that went to see the next Maltese Champions.

For this competition 22 Kickboxers from four different Maltese Kickboxing Clubs went into the ring to test their skills and to try to claim the prize for which they trained for so long. Athletes form Kickboxing Clubs Ying Yang, Red Dragon, New Kickboxing and Wu Shu Ky met together and competed in either Kickboxing or K1 matches.

In all the 10 matches and one exhibition match planned for the evening there was a Ying Yang’s athlete. Master Noel Mercieca, founder of the club, guided his students form the ring’s corner and in total the Ying Yang Kickboxing won 8 categories. Those that won the Kickboxing match were Kevin Cassar, Elian Mallia, Jonathan Curmi, Terence Cilia, Alan Ellul, and Andrew Hillsden. Runners up were Nicholas Ellul and Jessica Davey.

Two other members of the Ying Yang, Reuben Azzopardi u Daniel Zahra competed with K1 rules in which knees to the body and the head were permitted. This was the first National K1 Championship and both matches were for the World Kickboxing Network’s (WKN) Title Belt.

Reuben “Wolf” Azzopardi competed with Renald “Ice Man” Tabone for the Light Heavyweight Maltese WKN Title. In all the three rounds Azzopardi always had the upper hand by forcing Tabone to the corners or ropes and ending almost each attack with a well placed knee strike to the head or the body. It was in the third round that Azzopardi delivered the decisive knee strike to the ribs. After counting till 10 the referee terminated the match and declared the “Wolf” the winner. This was the only match that ended with a KO. In 2007 Azzopardi was the first Maltese Kickboxer that took part in a WKN match.

The main match was between Daniel “Jet” Zahra and “Super” Steve Martin for the Middle Weight Maltese WKN Title. All the five rounds were filled with nonstop strikes and counter strikes form both athletes. From one bell ring to the other Zahra and Martin gave a nice display of punches, knees and even jumping kicks. It was a head to head challenge till the last round when the Jet managed to place two good kicks that brought down Martin who never surrendered. In the end the victory was given to Zahra by points. “The Jet” already won three WKN Title Belts and one of them is the 2009 WKN World Title.

For more information regarding the Ying Yang club’s training days please visit the website www.yingyangkickboxing.com or contact Master Noel Mercieca on 79208283 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it