Last month 27 members from the Ying Yang Kickboxing Club were evaluated in a Kickboxing grading. This was organised by the Malta Kick Boxing Association (MKBA) where kickboxers from four clubs took part so they could achieve their next Belt in this discipline. At the end of grading Daniel Zarha and Terence Cilia managed to get their 3rd Dan Black Belt.

In the past months Master Noel Mercieca, the founder of the club, has been training these kickboxers so they could give their best in the grading. Zarha and Cilia had a grading of four hours in which Kancho Adrian Axisa, founder of the MKBA, evaluated their Kickboxing techniques.

Due to the level of the Belt they were graded on very advanced techniques which involved jumping and kicking a high held target. The climax of the grading was when they had to do three minutes sparring with 10 kickboxers one after the other. This part is usually done at the end to evaluate the athletes’ endurance and stamina.

Zarha and Cilia have been training with Master Mercieca for 10 years and they have been part of the Black Belts ranks for the past six years.

Both athletes had the opportunity to represent Malta in different competitions, both on European and International level. Zarha held the local Open Weight Category title between 2006 and 2008 and even got a European Title Belt from the World Kickboxing Network.

Cilia, for the past two years, has been holding the local Middle Weight Category and even represented Malta in International Boxing competition versus England. Even though he trains Kickboxing he managed to win the European Title in this particular Boxing Competition.

Some local famous TV personalities train with Ying Yang as well. Amongst them there is Moira Delia and Claire Ordway and both of them took part in the grading. Since they were evaluated on different Belts their techniques and exam duration varied. But in the end they managed to achieve their goal with Delia receiving the Purple Belt and Ordway receiving the Green Belt.

The Ying Yang Kickboxing Club is even part of the World Kickboxing Network (WKN), which organises international competitions even on a professional level. Master Mercieca even trained a number of his students in the sport of Boxing and even represented Malta, and won, in an international competitions. For more information about training schedule please visit the website www.yingyangkickboxing.tk or contact Master Noel Mercieca on 79208283 or [email protected].