CHAMPIONNATS DU MONDE DE SAVATE - 2004 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ASSAUT

2nd & 3rd July 2004, Plovdiv, Bulgaria

The GBSF team was:

Team Coach	Charlie Howes
Team Officials:	Richard Muggeridge
	James Southwood
(& team delegate)	Martin Ross
Corner man	Mark Miseldine
Male Fighters	Antony Crossman
	Chris Hill
	Dirk Esser
	Graham Thorn
	James Antill
Female Fighters	Laura Gilbert
	Rachel Shore

From our reporter on the scene, Rossy:

Tuesday 29th June - The Great Britain Savate Federation (GBSF) 2004 team, consisting of 7 fighters, 2 coaches and 3 officials from across the UK, met up at Heathrow airport at 7am to travel to Bulgaria.
The team settled on the plane and were ready to go when the captain of the plane announced that "a panel covering the fuel filler had come loose leaving a gapping hole and the technical crew were busy using sticky tape to put it back on so take off would be delayed" - Not a great way to start the journey!
3 hours and a complimentary airplane "breakfast" later, we arrived safely in Sofia, capital city of Bulgaria.

We were met the airport by Assen the proprietor of "Hostel Mostel". The hostel accommodation was excellent with the team occupying a 10-bedded dormitory and a twin bedded apartment, included in the very reasonable price (10 Euro) was pick up from the airport, evening meal and glass of beer - all of which were very appreciated. After settling in, eating and showering we ventured out into the city centre and had an enjoyable social evening taking in the sights and sounds of a wonderful, exciting, busy city.

Wednesday 30th June - After our "eat as much as you like" breakfast at the hostel we took Assen's advice and went to the local bazaar / market to see real Bulgarian lifestyle and to do souvenir shopping. We left "Hostel Mostel" about midday and returned to Sofia airport to meet up with various other federations and travel to Plovdiv by bus. Due to delayed flights and general confusion the coach was filled to it's limit with a variety of French, Canadian, Cambodian, English and American fighters, so a hot, sticky and uncomfortable 2 hour coach journey ensued. We arrived in Plovdiv and booked into the 4 star "Maritsa" hotel, the team splitting into groups of two and three, after unpacking and refreshing we had an evening meal at the hotel with all the other federations present. Later that evening we went into the town centre and visited a casino complete with Russian dancing girls. Most conversations with other fighters that evening began with "What weight are you?" mainly because everyone was trying to find out who their opponents may be.

Thursday 1st July - After breakfast, Alain and Anna Tardits (our Bulgarian hosts) had arranged two possible excursions for the competitors, the first was a coach trip to the medieval Rila monastery hidden away in the nearby mountains for the culture seekers, the other option was a guided walking tour & shopping trip, of Plovdiv (the town of seven hills). For the officials there was a meeting to discuss the rules and get acquainted with the venue. In the evening a group of officials (including all three GBSF officials) went out for dinner in a typical Bulgarian restaurant and were entertained by some hysterical menu translations - "Pork Sword"& "Battered shark on Plate" to name just two. Arriving back at the hotel it was noted that many more federations had arrived including the Italians, Belgians, Swedish, Finnish, Germans, Moroccans, Russians, Serbians, Macedonians and Japanese. In all 22 nations

Friday 2nd July - Weigh in's and medical control began early in the morning and continued throughout the day, closing at 4pm promptly. With over 140 fighters to weigh the organisation was almost military, delegation-by-delegation. I am pleased to say that our GBSF team all weighed in and passed the medical and equipment control successfully first time so they could then relax and focus on the fast approaching "elimination" stage of the competition. Fighting started at 6pm, the cooler time of the day and continued until 11pm. GBSF official Richard Muggeridge, known for his honesty and good sense of fair play was an obvious choice to nominate as a ring delegate and was put in control of one of the six-ring areas. This was the first time he had ever done this job and to do it at a World Championships was a very brave thing to take on. For this evening period he was allocated 16 bouts to schedule and officiate over, not an easy task to perform when under pressure and doing it for the first time, I am glad to say Richard rose to the challenge admirably and the fighters arrived, fought and left almost like a factory conveyor belt. At the end of the evening's fights everyone rushed back to the hotel for a very late dinner and bed.

Saturday 3rd July - The "elimination" section of the competition continued after breakfast and some excellent fights were observed. GBSF corner men, Charles Howes & Mark Miseldine were kept busy all the time often with two fights involving GB fighters occurring simultaneously. The standard of Savate was very high and every GBSF fighter did their best and performed exceedingly well. At 3pm the "official" opening ceremony started and each federation took turn to take centre stage whilst their national anthem was played, a very moving and emotional moment, the team had done so well and made us so proud, a little tear was shed. This was followed by a demonstration of "Savate Forme", "Tae Bo" and "Thai Boxing". When this finished, we were back to the quarterfinal stage of the competition. GBSF had 3 fighters, James Antill, Rachel Shore & Antony Crossman (all from Spectrum Club) through to this stage of the competition. All eyes were on the fighters and despite the tired, battered and bruised limbs some excellent "assaut" was demonstrated. The World Championship Finals began at 9pm and the hall had been re-arranged so there were now only two rings in operation, one for the girls the other for the guys. Starting with the heavyweight category working down to the lightest and smallest fighters. After each male and female bout awards and trophies were given to the top four fighters in the category, Rachel and James who ended up 3rd and 4th represented GBSF on the podium, Antony was not far behind finishing somewhere in the top seven. The competition formally closed at 11pm, we returned to the hotel to eat and change then danced and drank the night away at a local night spot, at 7am everyone returned to the hotel to either sleep or pack and depart.

Sunday 4th July - At 11.30 am the overcrowded coach left Plovdiv for Sofia arriving at the airport with only two gears working and 10 minutes to spare before flights departed. The GBSF team had already arranged to stay at "Hostel Mostel" again so another fleet of taxi's took us back there, along with the entire teams from both Finland and Sweden - sadly the hostel could not accommodate them all but the proprietor did manage to find alternative accommodation for our new friends. Our final evening in Bulgaria was spent drinking cocktails, enjoying the scenery and discussing fights, training tips and preparations for the soon arriving GB National Championships provisionally booked for early December 2004, winners of this event will be given first choice to represent Great Britain at the 2005 European Assaut Championships.

Summary of Results:
55kg - 60kg Female = Laura Gilbert - 2 fights, 1 loss, 1 stopped due to illness.
60kg - 65kg Female = Rachel Shore - Semi Finalist, ending in 3rd place
60kg - 65kg Male = Antony Crossman - Quarter finalist, ending in 6th place.
70kg - 76kg Male = James Antill - Semi finalist, ending in 4th place
76kg - 83kg Male = Chris Hill - 2 fights, 2 losses
82kg - 89kg Male = Dirk Esser - 2 fights, 2 losses
85kg and over = Graham Thorn - 2 fights,2 losses then withdrew due to injury.

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