Two bronze medals for Mikołaj Chrząszcz

Mikołaj Chrząszcz won two bronze medals during the Northern Polish Championships – Gladius Cup, held on 29 October 2016 in Ostróda. These were the only medals won by the 3-person KCT team that took part in the competition.

Our club travelled to Ostróda with a symbolic five-person squad. The three athletes were youth competitors Mikołaj Chrząszcz and Grzegorz Pajda, as well as debuting junior Dariusz Pazdan. The team was completed by contracted referee Maciej Stupak and coach Mikołaj Kotowicz.

All three performed very well. Mikołaj won bronze in speed kicking and touch-contact sparring. Grzesiek did not reach the final in speed kicking, although it turned out that in the final round the competitors performed fewer kicks than Grzegorz had in the qualifiers. He also performed well in sparring, but unfortunately minor mistakes deprived him of a chance at a medal. For Dariusz, this was his first competition. In his first semi-contact fight, he won after two extra rounds; unfortunately, he later faced much better opponents. His light-contact fight also ended after an extra round, although this time the judges awarded the win to his opponent.

For all three, this was an important warm-up before the upcoming Polish Open Cup. The Gladius Cup revealed reserves of potential in our athletes that they have a chance to draw on in Opole.