Nili Block is a 5-time Muay Thai and 1-time Kickboxingworld champion representing Israel. Nili's World Championships Include: 2012: 10th Amateur/Pro-Am Muay Thai Championships, Bangkok, Thailand flyweight class - Gold Medal - World Champion 2015: XIX KickBox World Cup, Budapest, Hungary - Gold Medal - World Champion 2015: WAKO Amateur Kickboxing World Championships, Belgrade, Serbia, - Gold Medal - World Champion 2016: 17th International Federation of Muaythai Amateur World Championships, Jonkoping, Sweden. - Gold Medal - World Champion 2017: Muay Thai World Championship - Gold Medal - World Champion 2018: Muay Thai World Championship - Gold Medal - World Champion Nili's European Championships Include: 2016: Thai Boxing European Championships - Gold Medal - European Champion 2017: Thai Boxing European Championships - Gold Medal - European Champion 2018: Thai Boxing European Championships - Gold Medal - European Champion 2019: Thai Boxing European Championships - Gold Medal - European Champion In addition NIli won the bronze medal in Muay Thai at The World Games 2017, Wroclaw, Poland,.
Early life
Born in Baltimore, Maryland, in the United States, Nili is one of six siblings to a dentist father and homemaker mother. Nili describes herself as a "traditional" or "observant" Jew who keeps kosher and the Jewish Sabbath. Bringing kosher food with her when she travels to competitions. observing the Jewish shabbat from Friday sundown to Saturday sundown, as well as other traditional restrictions on time and practice pose a special challenge which makes her achievements all the more remarkable. At the age of two, Nili and her family made aliyah to Israel from Maryland. They settled and now live in the religious neighborhood of Ramat Beit Shemesh in Beit Shemesh, Israel. Her mother, Rina, became a volunteer officer in the Israeli Defense ForcesBorder Police, and makes a living as a biking instructor and by cleaning homes. At age 11, Nili began representing Israel in international competitions as a member of the Israeli Women's American Flag Football National Team. She gave up the sport in 2012 in order to focus more fully on a single sport: Muay Thai. In 2015, in 12th grade, as a student at an ulpana, a high school for Orthodox girls, Nili beat hundreds of other girls in the 10K run of the 2013 Jerusalem Marathon. As her sports are not supported by Olympic-style budgets, Nili cleans homes and delivers newspapers to pay for her travel and training,
Kickboxing and Muay Thai career
When she was 10 years old, Nili's mother suggested she learn kickboxing, as a manner of self-defense. She trained at a kickboxing academy at Teddy Stadium in Jerusalem. Her coach her entire career has been Benny Cogan, who is also Israel's national kickboxing and Muay Thai coach, and she is trained as well by Eddie Yusupov. Nili is designated as an "outstanding athlete" by the Israel Defense Forces, which allows her to be in a special program that permits her to compete in international kickboxing competitions. In 2012 she became world champion in the flyweight class at the 10th Amateur/Pro-Am Muay Thai Championships in Bangkok, Thailand. In May 2015, when she was in 12th grade, Block won a gold medal in her age category in the XIX KickBox World Cup in the 52- to 56-kilo category in Hungary. In October 2015, Block won a gold medal at the Kickboxing World Championships in Belgrade, Serbia, in the 60 kg senior division. She said: "It is such a good feeling .... it’s so special to become a symbol in the world as a Jew and as an Israeli. They didn’t expect me to win, coming from such a small country. Who would have expected it?" That year she was named Female Athlete of the Year by the Federation of Non-Olympic Competitive Sports in Israel. In 2016, at 20 years of age, she won the 17th International Federation of Muaythai Amateur World Championship for the first time, in the 60 kg division, in Jonkoping, Sweden. In 2017, Nili won the gold medal at the Muay Thai World Championship in the 60 kg division. She is also the two-time defending European champion. In October 2017, she won the gold medal at the Thai Boxing European Championships in the women's 60 kg division in Paris, France. That year, in July she also won a bronze medal in Muay Thai at the 2017 World Games in Wroclaw, Poland, taking third in the women's 60 kg Muay Thai event.
