THE KOCH TEAM CONGRATULATE THEIR

WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION

Reinhard and Ulli Koch have known for a long time that they can fully rely on their employees’ doing an excellent job. Kai Höfer, long-time member of the KOCH team, has now delivered proof of aspiring to unparalleled excellence at all levels. The head of Installation and Mechanics fought his way through to take the gold medal at this year’s kickboxing world championships for amateurs in Benidorm, Spain.

1,700 participants from all over the world vied for places in the disciplines full contact, light contact, point fighting and forms. In the men’s light contact event for those from the age of 35, the winner in the heavyweight class (over 85kg) was a man whose expertise, friendliness and humour is very much appreciated by colleagues, partners and customers as he goes about his daily work; a man who doesn’t make it obvious at first glance how much fighting spirit he’s got in him: the 105kg-heavy Kai Höfer. He quickly and convincingly beat all the adversaries in his class with consummate mastery, but then in the final he found himself standing opposite a real „tough nut“. 196cm tall and weighing in at 112kg, the Englishman had won all his fights in next to no time in the preliminary rounds by a technical knockout or by his opponent giving up, and he set a furious pace right from the very beginning in the final contest too. But Kai Höfer replied with the right strategy – thanks to using the ring to good effect and to his great speed, he managed to dodge the Englishman’s hail of punches and kicks time and time again, and to outcounter him effectively with a wide variety of different techniques. The winner was already settled towards the end of the second round and the German light-contact national team were able to add a gold medal to their tally to bring the total number of medals won to 21 (5 gold, 3 silver and 13 bronze).

The intensive period of preparation has fully paid off. „I came fifth in the 2005 World Championships at Niagara Falls in Canada – I was really suffering from jetlag at the time and knew I was capable of doing better. But for me to get the gold – well I certainly didn’t expect that.“ the happy 37-year-old kickboxer from Neuwied said after the fight.

The KOCH team congratulate their world heavyweight champion – and wish him just as much success next year!

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