Ademir da Costa

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources:  –  ·  ·  · scholar · JSTOR (July 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Ademir da Costa
Born	Ademir Sidnei Ferreira da Costa (1961-03-29) March 29, 1961 (age 60)
Nationality	Brazil
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Weight	95 kg (209 lb; 15.0 st)
Style	Seiwakai (founder) Kyokushin Karate, Muay Thai
Teacher(s)	Seiji Isobe, Masutatsu Oyama
Rank	Kancho of Seiwakai

Ademir Sidnei Ferreira da Costa^[a] (born March 29, 1961), more commonly known as Ademir da Costa, is a Brazilian martial artist, specializing in Full-Contact Karate. He was a former Kyokushin Karate fighter who is the founder and current chairman of the martial arts entity Seiwakai.^[1]

He was the first Brazilian to take the 100-man Kumite challenge.^[2] He is the founder and worldwide technical director of the International Combat Karate Organization Seiwakai, the International Martial Arts Organization Seiwakai and the Federation of Martial Arts Seiwakai in São Paulo.

Biography[]

Early Karate career[]

At the age of 13 in 1974, he entered the Kyokushin Kaikan dojo of the Brazilian branch ran by Seiji Isobe. He acquired a green belt at the age of 14. At the time, his fights against bigger, more graduated and experienced opponents made him famous. At age 15 Ademir da Costa was promoted to brown belt by Masutatsu Oyama, founder of Kyokushin, due to his remarkable performance. As at 16 years old, he had gained his 1st Dan Black Belt and he had been crowned Brazilian vice-champion, defeating several international level athletes.^{[citation needed]}

He won the Brazilian Championship in 1979 at the age of 18. In same year, he participated in the 2nd Open Tournament World Open Karate Championship. In the 2nd round, he defeated Japan national team Noguchi Toshiro 2nd Dan, and in the 3rd round, da Costa lost to Swedish Håkan Nygren.^[b] Kyokushin founder Mas Oyama, who acted as chief referee in the tournament said of him that "[da Costa] will surely grow in the future."^{[citation needed]}

In order to become stronger, Ademir continued to practice karate by carrying 12 to 13 kg of lead in his daily life in addition to training. After three months of training as an uchi-deshi at the headquarters dojo, he participated in the 14th Open Tournament All Japan Karate Championships in the same year. He would fight Makoto Nakamura in the 4th round. The match was unexpectedly a fierce battle involving up to two extra times. Ademir would win over Nakamura with a 3-0 decision.^{[citation needed]}

Da Costa would fight against Toshio Mizuguchi in the quarterfinals. Ademir would lose against Mizuguchi by decision and finished 6th overall in the tournament. However, defeating Nakamura earned him to be chosen as one of the candidates for the 3rd World Championship two years later, as well as bringing lot of attention to him.^{[citation needed]}

3rd World Championship & 100-man Kumite[]

Da Costa participated in the D block at the 3rd Open Tournament World Open Karate Championships in 1984. He rematched with Makoto Nakamura in the semi-finals, this time losing by decision. He would then fight Shokei Matsui for the 3rd Place. He would be defeated by Matsui and would finish 4th overall in the Tournament.

In 1985, Ademir won the South American Championship for the third time in a row.

After asking his mentor, Seiji Isobe, da Costa would challenge the 100-man kumite. The date and time were set according to Ademir's wishes, and the challenge began on April 25, 1987, at the São Paulo State Capital Sports Center.

At this time, Ademir won one in a row up to the 27th person. Moreover, it is a feat of defeating the opponent in 10 seconds.

However, the pace of Ademir began to slow down gradually, and the degree of resistance from the 60th person increased. When he finishes the 70th person, he changes his clothes and takes a 10-minute break. After the 85th person, he would fight more defensively. Ademir thought many times about stopping after the 85th person. 2 hours 55 minutes from the start. Ademir finally finished the last kumite.^[3][4]

4th World Championship & Leadership duties[]

Da Costa was seen as the favourite to win the 4th World Open Karate Championships in 1987. In the 4th round, he won against Kenji Yamaki at the end of the 2nd extension by weight judgment, and in the 5th round he fought against Michel Wedel.

This fight was also extended twice, with Ademir overcoming Wedel, albeit receiving harsh blows from Wedel that would hamper da Costa's performance in the next fight. Then, when he fought Andy Hug in the quarter-finals, da Costa could not exert his full strength and ended up losing. Da Costa finished in 5th place and would retired from Full-contact Karate fighting after this tournament.

After that, da Costa, together with Seiji Isobe, would train Francisco Filho in preparation for the next Kyokushin World Championship. Filho's kicking technique is believed^{[by whom?]} to be greatly influenced by Ademir's guidance. Da Costa would also advise Filho when he took his 100-man kumite in 1995.^{[citation needed]}

Recent activities[]

After 1996, he resigned from Kyokushin organization and would found Seiwakai. Recently he has been participating in the "POINT & KO All Japan Championship" sponsored by Sato Juku.

Currently, Mestre Ademir da Costa gives seminars all over the world teaching and demonstrating his combat techniques. He trains athletes from different fighting modalities, gives classes to special groups such as GARRA, GOE and the Internal Rescue Service.^{[citation needed]}

He is the promoter of numerous international events and manager of athletes from various fighting disciplines.

Accomplishments and titles[]

• Brazilian Champion in the Absolute Category in 1979, 1980, 1983, 1984 and 1985.
• South American Champion in the Absolute Category in 1981, 1983, 1985 and 1987.
• Best Technique Trophy for beating world champion Makoto Nakamura in 1982.
• Japanese-Brazilian Champion in the Absolute Category in 1984.
• Fourth place at the 3rd World Championships in Tokyo in 1984.
• Fourth Karateka in the world in the test of 100 consecutive fights (by the rules of Karate Kyokushin Oyama) with 62 K.O.s in 1987.
• Fifth Place at the 4th Tokyo Open World Championships in 1987.

Legacy[]

When Shokei Matsui was asked "Which player felt the toughest among the players who fought during his active career?", he would answer "Akira Masuda in Japan and Ademir da Costa from overseas." Elaborating that "Andy Hug and Michael Thompson were also really strong, but ultimately, it's Ademir."^[5]

The style in which da Costa worked in competition combines strength, flexibility, good technique and fighting spirit. Left-handed, da Costa worked in a right-handed stance, often with his palms open. His style became more aggressive at the 1987 World Championships. An interesting feature of da Costa's fighting style was the use of a yoko-geri kick with his left foot, which is extremely rare in competition. To perform this blow, da Costa carried the knee of his left leg to his right shoulder, after which he performed a blow with a simultaneous turn towards the opponent with his left side. Such a turn significantly increased the force of the blow.

Seiwakai[]

Seiwakai (清和会)

Focus	Striking
Hardness	Full-contact
Country of origin	Brazil
Creator	Ademir da Costa
Parenthood	Kyokushin Karate, Muay Thai

Seiwakai (清和会) is a full contact style of karate, founded in 1996 by Kancho Ademir da Costa. After resigning from the IKO organization following the infighting following the death of founder Masutatsu Oyama in 1994, Da Costa went on to found his own style and created the International Seiwakai Organization.^[6]

It is a modern martial art derived from Kyokushin Karate, as well as aspects of Muay Thai. Seiwakai is characterized as an aggressive style, with a fighting strategy aimed at achieving victory by knockout.^[7] This feature of the style combat mentality of its founder, Ademir da Costa. In addition to the standard striking techniques; grabs, sweeps and other wrestling techniques are also used in this style.

Rules of sports matches[]

Seiwakai competitions take place as full contact competitive fights and are held in the boxing ring. Of the technical elements, footboards, sweeps and one-handed grips are allowed. As in Kyokushinkai, punches to the head and certain techniques (such as chokeholds) are prohibited. Victory is awarded only when one of the opponents can no longer continue the fight.

Degrees and belts[]

There are ten student (kyu) and six master (dan) degrees in Seiwakai.

• 10-9th kyu - white belt
• 8-7th kyu - blue belt
• 6-5th kyu - yellow belt
• 4th - 3rd kyu - green belt
• 2nd - 1st kyu - brown belt
• 1-6 dan - black belt.

Seiwakai Internationally[]

Currently, the Seiwakai International Combat Karate Organization is present in several countries. While Seiwakai is developing mainly in Brazil, but there are representations in other countries, including; Russia, USA, Japan, Kuwait, as well as in other Latin American countries, such as Chile, Bolivia, Uruguay.^{[citation needed]}

The Branch Chief of the Seiwakai style in Russia and Europe is Sergey Zheltoukhov.^[8] On June 19, 2008, with the participation of Ademir da Costa, the first international Seiwakai tournament in Russia was held in Khimki. In this tournament, the third place was taken by the representative of Russia - Tariel Nikoleishvili. Among women, the first place was taken by Russian Yulia Trushina.^[9]

Notes[]

References[]

External links[]

• I.C.K.O.Seiwakai