Kenya’s Ali Nassor lost to Iranian Ghandanian Mostafa on a Technical Knockout following an arm bar to bag bronze.
Kenya launched its defence of the World Unified Martial Arts title yesterday
Nassor said afterwards: “It was always going to be tough for me given the Iranian is top ranked in the category.”
The Iranian, Mostafa, went on to bag gold with a Technical Knock victory.
Kenya is represented by 17 combatants at this World Unified Martial Arts in Cheongju, South Korea.
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In another bout, Kenya’s Athmani Ismail Tune lost 6-5 to Thailand’s Sunithiphonsakun Surapong in the Sparring 62kg category. Ismail looked the stronger of the two combatants opening up a 5-1 point lead in the first half.
However, he crumbled under a resurgent Surapong after the break.
A drop in guard saw the Thai quickly close the gap with quick fire attacks to the belly of the Kenyan.
Surapong pulled level with a minute to go landing a superb kick and before the buzzer, he launched a scathing attack to take the game 6-5. Ismael will have to redeem himself in the next Form category.
In Kenya’s second game Kenya’s Tong Il Moo Do chairman Clarence Mwakio hailed the Kenyan fighters saying they were up against experienced opponents.
“To be fair I think because of the funding of the tournament, it has attracted many countries and therefore there is a lot of quality unlike in the past,” he said.
