Following several months of preparation, the 2018 Savate World Championships took place in October at the International Fair Plovdiv. George Tanchev, president of the Bulgarian Savate Federation, and his team of volunteers, organised airport pick-ups, hotel accommodation and food for several hundred people, as well as building the competition venue. A massive task completed with a warm welcome and smiles.
The senior world championships are open to adults aged 18 years and over. In total, 18 World Champion titles were awarded - 8 in the male weight categories and 8 in the female weight categories in Savate Assaut, in addition to the male and female titles in Canne de Combat.
For three days, the stadium echoed to the cheers and encouragement of athletes representing 43 countries. With Savate growing in popularity around the world, these were our largest world championships to date, and for the first time, athletes from Azerbaijan, Georgia, Guinea, India and Peru participated.
France, the mother country of our sport, showed their dominance by taking many titles, with notable wins in Assaut by Ilhame RAGUIG (France, F-70kg) now 4 times world champion and Julie LAZARD (France, F-65kg) now 3 times World Champion. In Canne de Combat, Benjamin LATT (France) showed his skill by taking a 4th World Champion title and Nicole HOLZMANN (Germany) by taking her second World Champion title.
A recent change in the scoring system for Canne was tested at this event, with great effect, encouraging the athletes to express their creativity, rather than just scoring points.
The overall medal distribution reflected the spread of Savate, with 23 countries taking 1 or more medals, including Iran with a silver and 3 bronze, and Peru and Czech Republic with their first bronze medals.
We offer sincere thanks to all the officials who participated in the Championships, some of whom are shown here:
You can find the full results of the 2018 World Championships here
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