Daniel Ghiţă, the first Romanian into the K1 Final

Daniel Ghiţă qualified into the K1 grand final in Japan for the first time ever after defeating Dutch Erol Zimmerman in a match within the K1 World Grand Prix Final 16 Gala in Seoul. Ghiţă knocked out the Dutch at the beginning of the second round, managing to get him to the floor with four consecutive blows. The punches got Zimmerman to the floor and Ghiţă has thus become the first Romanian to qualify into the K1 final, scheduled to be held in Yokohama, Japan on December 11.



Daniel Ghiţă (born April 22, 1981) is a professional Romanian Heavyweight kickboxer and a martial artist. He is a former WKN European Muaythai champion, currently competing in K-1. He made his K-1 debut in 2007 at K-1 Fighting Network Romania 2007. He begun his career in 1994. After just 4 months of training he wins the national title of Romania in semi-contact, light-contact, full-contact kickboxing and thai boxing. Next year, he repeats the same performance.

"The Savage Samurai" made his debut at the World Championships in 1999 in Bangkok, Thailand. Daniel won all his matches by knockout before the semifinal where he lost against Alexey Ignashov by one round (the only match of the Belarusian won by decision and not KO). Ghiţă's career continued with outstanding performances: European champion in Germany in 2000, bronze medal at the World Muay Thai Championships from Thailand 2001 and European vice-champion in Portugal in 2002. In 2003, he recorded the fastest KO at the World Muay Thai Championships from Thailand, 30 seconds against an Australian fighter.

In 2004, Daniel entered the Local Kombat fighting circuit from Romania. His good record there gave him the opportunity to fight also in the K-1 fighting circuit. His K-1 debut was in 2007 at K-1 Fighting Network Romania 2007 against Nobu Hayashi. On August 11, 2009 Ghiţă broke Peter Aerts' record of fastest K-1 tournament win by defeating all three of his opponents in total of 5 minutes and 15 seconds. Peter Aerts' record at the time was 6:43 and stood for 10 years before Ghiţă's milestone, however, Aerts' record was set at a K-1 Grand Prix Final Round, whereas Ghiţă's record was set in a qualifying GP. Ghiţă is known for his strong low kicks, with which he has knocked out many of his opponents.

Aside from kickboxing, from 2001 to 2008, Ghiţă was a secret service agent assigned to protect the president of Romania.

Biographic infos from Wikipedia, images from Muaythai.sg.

Helmuth Duckadam

Helmuth Duckadam (born April 1, 1959 in Semlac), former Romanian football goalkeeper, dubbed "the hero of Seville" due to his heroics in the 1986 European Cup Final.

Duckadam started his career playing in the regional league of Arad county, before moving to UT Arad in 1978 to become professional. In 1982 played twice for Romania and, as a result, was signed by country giants FC Steaua Bucharest.


The Romanian goalkeeper leapt into the folklore of both the club and European competition by saving all four penalties taken by FC Barcelona during the shoot-out that won Steaua the European Champion Clubs' Cup on May 7, 1986, at the Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán in Seville. Duckadam became a hero by saving from José Ramón Alexanko, Angel Pedraza, 'Pichi' Alonso and Marcos Alonso. Only two of the eight penalties were converted as the Romanian side won the shoot-out 2-0 after 120 minutes of football had failed to produce a goal. Steaua won the main European trophy for the first time, and much of the credit for the surprise victory was given to Duckadam.


"I always had a dream about reaching a final and being the decisive player," said Duckadam in an exclusive interview for UEFA's 50 Years of European Club Football commemorative book. "In Seville l had the chance to turn the dream into reality. It was all down to me in the shoot-out. Alexanko took the first penalty. I chose to move to the right and he shot to the right and so I managed to save it. The second one was less simple. I tried to think like Pedraza. He would be thinking that when I’d made one save to the right then I would dive to my left. So he shot to the right and I managed to save the second penalty as well. The third one by Pichi Alonso was simpler. Any goalkeeper who has made two saves to his right is bound to go left for the third one. He shot to the right and I moved right again and saved the third one as well. With the fourth penalty I had a problem. I was seriously wondering what Marcos would do - whether he would copy the other three or shoot to the left. I decided to change side and moved to the left. Marcos also chose that side" - and that was how Helmut Duckadam saved four penalties.


On 25 March 2008, Duckadam was decorated by the president of Romania, with The Sportive Merit" Order class II, for his part in winning the of 1986 European Cup.