W.K.A World Championships
Niagara Falls Canada
November 4th to November 12th 2005

Write up by Rubina Bi

We arrived in Canada on the evening of Friday 4th November 2005. We thought it was going to be very cold but the weather was really good. The hotel was very nice and we had a great view of Niagara falls from the 17th floor where we had our rooms.
Qasim and Tommy weighed in the next morning and we had the rest of the day to see what Canada had to offer.
The following day we attended the opening ceremony which was held outside near the falls. All the countries got together and there was a great atmosphere with every one cheering for their own countries team. There was live music and a fireworks display and it was truly a night to remember. The Niagara falls looked astonishing with all the different colours shining on to them.
The Championships started on Monday but Qasim and Tommy's first fight of the tournament was scheduled for the following day on the Tuesday.
This years venue for the championships was a massive casino which was a five minute walk from the hotel. Altogether there were seven matted areas and was on a much bigger scale than both lads had been used to back in the UK.
Fight day arrived on Tuesday and it was Qasim who was called to the mat first. He was matched against an Irish fighter who looked very confident as both fighters anticipated the start of the bout.
Qasim was as always also looking confident and had his team mate Tommy Collett as his cornerman for some last minute advice.
Qasim started well landing more punches and more kicks and doing the more technical work than his game but limited opponent over the two rounds duration.
Constantly being warned for his lack of kicks and the fact that he never landed one kick on target in the fight we and Qasim thought he had won the fight quite comfortably but somehow the judges scored it to the Irish fighter by a 2 to 1 split decision.
We were all very disappointed by the result put Qasim put a positive spin on it and put it down to experience and another step on his learning curve.
Next up was Tommy who was matched against a very mean looking German fighter in his first round fight.
Both fighters were well matched and were equal in the trade off of punches and kicks. Tommy finished the stronger of the two landing some eye catching head kicks and the feeling was he had just done enough to win. Not taking anything for granted we waited for the decision before starting any kind of celebration.
No worries this time for the USKA contingent as Tommy was awarded the win by unanimous 3 to 0 decision.
Tommy had made it to the next round of the competition where he would face one of the very popular home town Canadian fighters.
The Canadian lad brought a very unusual and awkward style to the mat and one that would prove difficult for Tommy to work out.
Tommy was finding it hard to get close and score due to the long legs and kicking style of the Canadian.
Tommy was playing catch up and knew he was behind on points so decided to go for broke in the last 30 seconds and sustain a pressure attack. This strategy was a good one as the Canadian lad went on the defence and Tommy started to land effectively.
Unfortunately for Tommy it was a case of too little too late and the judges scored it in favour of the Canadian by a 2 to 1 split decision.
The dream was over for both USKA lads as they both were out of the Championships.
They both were down but certainly not out saying that they would turn the negative to a positive experience and look forward to the next world championship event which will be held in Spain in 2006.

Qasim and Tommy issued this statement in summery of their World Championship experience.

"We would like to say a big thank you to our instructor and coach Neil Kelly who prepared us for the World Championships, also thank you to Sean Quinn and Phil Richards who gave up their own time to train with us and push us to our limit. Thank you to all the U.S.K.A crew who supported us all the way and to everyone else who gave their support. Last but by no means least thanks must go out to Kamran from Lets Talk UK and Jalil from The Phones centre Ltd. who sponsored us both to make the trip possible"

Qasim Nisar and Tommy Collett