W.A.K.O. European Championships 2012 in Bucharest were the joint twenty-three European kickboxing championships held by the W.A.K.O. organization arranged by the Romanian Full-Contact Martial Arts Federation president Dorel Bulearcă. The first event was held the previous month in Ankara, Turkey. It was the first W.A.K.O. event to be held in Bucharest and Romania and involved over 550 amateurmen and women from 35 countries across Europe. There were four styles on offer at Bucharest: Full-Contact, Semi-Contact, Light-Contact and Musical Forms. Only one competitor perweight division were allowed to participate in the first three, while Musical Forms was allowed two maximum per country. The top nation by the end of the championships was Russia, with Italy in second and Hungary in third. The winners of the Full-Contact and Semi-Contact events qualified for the World Combat Games 2013. The event was held over five days at the Polyvalent Hall in Bucharest, Romania, starting on Tuesday, 27 November and ending on Saturday, 1 December 2012.
Full-Contact
Full-Contact is a form of kickboxing where the contestants can throw punches and kicks with full power at legal targets above the waist. Victories are usually gained via a point's decision or by referee stoppage and as with most other forms of amateur kickboxing, various head and body protection must be worn.
Men's Full-Contact Kickboxing Medals Table
Women's Full-Contact Kickboxing Medals Table
Semi-Contact
Semi-Contact is the least physical of the contact kickboxing styles available at W.A.K.O. events. It involves the participants throwing controlled strikes at targets above the waist, with point's scored on the basis of speed and technique with power prohibited. Despite the less physical nature all contestants must wear head and various body protection.
Men's Semi-Contact Kickboxing Medals Table
Women's Semi-Contact Kickboxing Medals Table
Team's Semi-Contact Kickboxing Medals Table
Light-Contact
Light-Contact is a form of kickboxing that is less physical than Full-Contact but more so than Semi-Contact and is often seen as a transition between the two. Contestants score points on the basis of speed and technique over brute force although stoppages can occur, although as with other amateur forms head and body protection must be worn. Unfortunately, it is often in the shadow of the full contact styles.
Men's Light-Contact Kickboxing Medals Table
Women's Light-Contact Kickboxing Medals Table
Musical Forms
Musical Forms is a type of non-physical competition which sees the contestants fighting against imaginary foes using Martial Arts techniques. Unlike Full, Semi and Light-Contact kickboxing there were no weight divisions, only male and female competitions and competitors were allowed to compete in more than one category with some countries having than one athlete in each category. The men and women at Bucharest competed in four different styles explained below:
Russia
Italy
Hungary
Poland
Ireland
Norway
Germany
Turkey
Great Britain
Belarus
Ukraine
Romania
Slovenia
Croatia
Austria
France
Bulgaria
Switzerland
Macedonia
Moldova
Belgium
Czech Republic
Slovakia
Israel
Denmark
Finland