Secret of Russian success in kickboxing

The season of 2011 was the most successful to Russian kickboxers in the whole history of Kickboxing Federation of Russia, said the head of the FkR Yuri Ryndin. At the last World Championships in Skopje, the Russian national team in the low-kick earned 13 gold medals, and  in the section K-1 - 7 gold, 2 silver and 7 bronze medals. According to the chief coach of Russian national team in the section of low-kick Farigat Kasimov, "the secret of Russian success this year is in the unique team of athletes from different nationalities, faiths, with a different mentality." Kickboxing originated in the mid-1970s in the West, but later included some elements of the oriental martial arts.As a result it became  a martial art which combined  long traditions and experience of the East and the West. The correspondent of  of Vestnik Kavkaza met with world kickboxing champions Svetlana Kulakova and Ruslan Magomedov and talked to them about their future plans.

Twenty-five-year old Ruslan Magomedov is a Unifight champion, the champion of the Cup of Russia ProFC in mixed martial arts and the Russian and world champion in kickboxing. In April 2011  there was the 14th stage of the international team tournament "Commonwealth Cup» PROFC in mixed martial arts. Ruslan Magomedov met with the absolute world champion in kickboxing Anatolii Nosyrev fron Rostov. The bout was very short and ended in the first round. Ruslan Magomedov won after 38 seconds of fight.
Twenty-nine-year old Svetlana  Kulakova, Russian champion in kickboxing among professionals, a spokeswoman for the Moscow Federation of Kickboxing, a student of the honored coach of Russia Sergei Konikov won in 2010 in Italy another title of world champion of in the category under 60 kg. Shortly before the tournament Svetlana became a mother. A lot of work was done to restore the shape after childbirth, that  resulted in a brilliant return to sport, marked by a colorful and convincing victory, which brought her the title of world champion.

- Why did you decide to do kickboxing?

Kulakova
I love this sport. I always wanted to be first in something. So I do sports.

Magomedov
Kickboxing is the best sport that can develop a person, especially a kicking technique of hands and feet. Kickboxing is the sport that I need at the moment to be the best in mixed martial arts.

- Ruslan, how did you manage to achieve these results in one year?

Magomedov
This was a great work of all my coaches from the Academy of MMA. They put  a lot of resources into me. Thanks to the coaches and partners we got  such a result in one year -  Iwon the championship of Russia and the world.

- Svetlana, are there a lot of girls involved in kickboxing in Russia?

Kulakova
Of course, more girls are concerned with artistic gymnastics, but quite some do kickboxing. The young girls have a lot of energy and it must be directed somewhere, and kickboxing is an accessible and inexpensive sport.

- What are your future plans?

Magomedov
I am not  going to leave the team. And I do not plan to cede my place to anyone for  two or three years. But I do not live with sport only. I have my own projects. I am actively engaged in youth policy, I participate in various competitions as a member of the jury. With my own example I try to show to young people and teenagers the need for the healthy lifestyle and sport. Because sport develops us. In addition, I work as a children coach. We talked with my coaches from the Academy of MMA about what we will do next. The main goal is America. We must win to show that Russia has very tough fighters in mixed martial arts. Of course, I will compete in kickboxing but will not entirely focus on it, my goal is mixed martial arts.