Huge congratulations to our Computing & Information Services (CIS) colleague Adrian Betchette, Senior IS Specialist here at Durham University, who has been awarded Bronze in the ICO (International Combat Organisation) British Championships which took place in Birmingham in May.
Adrian is 1st Dan Black Belt in Kickboxing, as well as part of the coaching team at Desapline Martial Arts, a Scarborough-based club founded in 2014, run by ICO England coach, Andy Desa. He is honoured to be representing England at the next ICO World Kickboxing Championships taking place in Hungary in October, after he finished 3rd at the British Championships.
This was ICO’s first British competition since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and for Adrian it was also an opportunity to be a corner judge after taking a Points Fighting referees’ course earlier in the year.
There are three types of kickboxing” Adrian explained, “Points, Light Continuous and K1. I am a points fighter which is more about speed, tactics and timing, rather than power.
He also added that he really enjoyed being a referee and he will be doing more of that in Hungary.
With kickboxing being an amateur sport, no funding is available, and fighters have to self-fund their own trips to be able to compete. Luckily, Adrian is able to fund his own trip to Hungary, however he is also currently raising money to help his teammates who might be struggling financially.
We wish Adrian all the best in his next sports challenge!