Repeat planned for Muay Thai tourney

Organiser Sue Latta was so chuffed by the success of the first-ever Muay Thai tournament held at Featherston on Saturday night she is already planning a repeat, probably in September.
A packed house of more than 400 people filled every vantage point and they were kept well entertained by a 15-fight programme which had more than its share of thrills and spills.
"It couldn't have gone any better, the fights were action-packed and the crowd got right into the swing
of things & the noise was something else," Latta said, adding a second tourney in September would be ideal as it would come just a month or so before the world championships
and would therefore provide an excellent dress rehearsal for the Kiwi fighters travelling to Thailand for that event.
"It's not definite but it makes good sense, right now I think we'll do it," she said.
Feature fight on Saturday was the clash between Janna Vaughn of Dunedin and Natasha Worden of New Plymouth for the vacant national women's junior lightweight title.
Vaughn, twice a bronze medallist at the world championships, justified her warm favouritism by scoring a tko over Worden in the second round and left a big impression with the accuracy of her kicks and punches, and her ability to keep out of harm's way when Worden went on the attack.
Preceding that bout was the "full fight" between a couple of heavyweights in George Murray (Featherston) and Thomas Ruatita (Palmerston North) with Murray winning on points after striking numerous telling blows with his knees.
It was a timely success for Murray who will compete at the Arafura Games in Darwin in May as part of a New Zealand contingent which will be managed by Sue Latta.
Featherston's Thomas Duncan found Damien Gray (Napier) a handful in the first round of their bout but came back strongly to win by a tko in the second round while Cody Temuri (Masterton) had his fight against Ian Menzies (Napier) stopped when blood from a cut above the left eyebrow started seeping into his eye.
It was an unfortunate ending for Temuri who looked to be in front on points and had actually opened a cut on Menzie's head as well.
Nepia Poutu (Featherston) also seemed to have the edge on Sua Leota (Palmerston North) before a massive blow to the groin slowed him up in the second round and allowed Leota to gain enough momentum for a split decision victory.
There were very different outcomes for the Featherston mother-and-son combination of Kelly and Kirk Davis.
Kelly gave away a huge height advantage to Shelly Page of Palmerston North and was knocked out by a left leg kick to the chin while Kirk actually won by a knockout in a classy performance against Bjorn Constable (Napier).
Stacey Langford (Greytown) and Matt Gain (Featherston) were both impressive in what were their first fights with the 13-year-old Gain showing composure and style which suggests he will become a very proficient Muay Thai exponent.