Congratulations to Alfie Davis
Congratulations to Alfie Davis WAKO European Silver medallist, Croatia, September 09.

The WAKO European Championships 2009 for juniors and cadets were held in Pula, Croatia, and with over 1000 competitors entering from 16 different countries it made for a top quality competition of the highest standard.

Alfie Davis (17) who is the current light and full contact WAKO British Champion, fought in the cadets (16-18yrs) under 79kg light contact section, and with 12 others in his group, he had a fantastic tournament.

He was lucky enough to get a bye in the first round proceeding straight to the quarter finals where he easily beat a Hungarian with a unanimous decision. The semi finals drew him against a tough polish fighter who, true to form, was insistent in trying to punch Alfie's head off. Alfie fought him perfectly, playing his opponent who struggled to lay a glove on him throughout the entire fight. Alfie skilfully hit and moved his way to victory and with another unanimous decision secured a place in the European final.

The final saw Alfie face a tough Croatian, who looked like the guy to beat all tournament. Alfie squared up to him on the final day of the week long competition, and was not only against his opponent, but also very hostile crowd who came to cheer the local boy on. The Croatian got ahead early in the first 2min round catching Alfie a couple of times with a fast jab/jump reverse/round house kick combination and managed to secure a 3 point advantage. Alfie traded blow for blow in the second but was unable to recapture the lost points, and again the Croatian just managed to stay ahead. Alfie tried his best to come back in the third, but the crafty Croatian started to play for time, running the clock down with regular time outs for equipment being loose, and falling over at the slightest contact. Alfie grew more and more frustrated with his opponent, and add to that the large Croatian crowd who taunted and verbally abused him throughout, it was a step too far.

This was the first time Alfie had ever experienced the 'home crowd advantage' phenomenon and by his own admittance, he let it get the better of him. He was really up against it though, and at one stage he even had a full 2 litre bottle of water thrown at him from the crowd, missing his head by an inch. Although very disappointed at losing, I have to say Alfie lost with a little bit of style, and executed one of the best running jumping front kicks I've ever seen, flooring his opponent at the final bell.

Check out his fights on YouTube.

Well done Alfie.
Alfie Davis trains in Enfield ECKA under Sensei Paul Bosley.