Contestants are travelling from all over the globe to take part in the ‘Final Elimination’ event at Beamish Hall, County Durham, next month.
Topping the bill will be Lanchester-based Jamie Bates, a world youth champion, who will be making his debut in a senior event. The contest, which will be held in the grounds of Beamish Hall, will be screened on satellite channel Setanta Sports, with 2,000 tickets on sale. Geoff Bates, coach at the Masac Gym, Stanley, is part of the team organising the European Federation of Kickboxing and World Kickboxing Association-backed event. He said: “It is the ultimate line-up. Every fighter is the top fighter in his country. It’s the biggest event of its type to be held in the UK. “We want to show the kickboxing world we are capable of pulling off an event like this.” Fighters are being flown in from countries including France, Latvia, Denmark, Greece and Norway to take part. Despite the competition Mr Bates said he was confident Jamie, his son, who also works as a falconer at the hall, would be up to the challenge.
Money made by the event will be donated to the Help for Heroes charity.