THOM HARINCK

Thom Harinck (born 22 December 1943 in The Hague) is a Dutch kickboxing trainer and founder of the Chakuriki Gym in Amsterdam. He is married to Marjan Olfers, former member of the board of Ajax and from 1 May 2012 professor in sports law.

THOM HARINCK introduceerde het bekende Muay-Thai/Kickboksen in Nederland, waarna de sport zich als een olievlek over Europa heeft verspreid. ...

In 1972, he founded the Chakuriki Gym in Amsterdam, originally teaching his own style named “Chakuriki”, a mixture of techniques from Kyokushin karate (in which he holds a 6th degree black belt), boxing, judo, jujutsu and wrestling which would later be known as modern contact karate or kickboxing in Holland.

Chakuriki later became a kickboxing gym as Harinck added Japanese kickboxing and Savate to his repertoire. Harinck founded the NKBB (Dutch Kickboxing Association) in 1976, the MTBN (Dutch Muay Thai Association) in 1983, the WMTA (World Muay Thai Association) and the EMTA (European Muay Thai Association) in 1984.

Harinck is one of the most famous trainers in the sport and has trained numerous world champions including Peter Aerts, Branko Cikatić, Jérôme Le Banner, Badr Hari and Hesdy Gerges.

He announced his retirement in April 2013 at the age of sixty-nine. In January 2016 Thom Harinck began coaching again. He trains a group of fighters daily, that includes Hesdy Gerges. In May 2016 Harinck published his memoirs in the English language. The book is called “Thom Harinck: Godfather of Muay Thai in The West” and is co-written with Julio Punch. An updated edition was released by Amsterdam Publishers in June 2020.

Harinck started training in judo and wrestling at 8 years of age. He ended up giving up on judo, after he wasn’t allowed to advance to the rank of black belt, due to his youth. Outside of martial arts, he partook in football, motorcross and Shooting. While working on a cruise ship he met a French sailor who was also a national champion of Savate. The sailor began training Harinck in the discipline, alongside others. Harinck continued practicing Savate after arriving in South Africa. He later took up boxing after he returned to the Netherlands and also started teaching Savate in Holland. While serving in the military as a teenager, Harinck started boxing at the competitive level. At the age of seventeen he worked as a bouncer at a local Club and began a partnership with Jan Stapper, a Kyokushin instructor.

His global journeys continued after he moved to Japan where he received the Uchi-deshi instruction under numerous masters in Tokyo, Nagano and Yokohama. He also received judo and traditional jujutsu instruction from Tokyo police department. He also spent plenty of time in Taiwan, where he entered to train Chinese Kenpo in addition to karate. Eventually he traveled to Thailand where he received the rank of the grand master in Muay Thai as one of the first foreigners ever.

Trained Champions

Trained K-1 World Champions

Chakuriki Gyms Worldwide

Founder of Fight Assocations

Trained numerous world champions

Including

Peter Aerts

Jérôme Le Banner

Richard Ploos

Menno Dijkstra

Stuart Bellentine

Branko Cikatić

Hesdy Gerges

Imro van Hetten

Patrick Eriksson

Antoine Druif

Badr Hari

Nobu Hayashi

Perry Ubeda

Lloyd van Dams

Gillbert Ballantine

Amir Zeyada

Tekin Donmez

Rick van der Vathorst

Kenneth Ramkisoen

Work

Services

chaku

Kancho founder of Chakuriki style.

Chakuriki is a mixture of techniques from

Judo

Judo is a sport in which two people fight using their arms and legs and hands and feet, and try to throw each other to the ground.

Kyokushin karate

Kyokushin karate a sport, originally from Japan, in which people fight using their arms, legs, hands, and feet. The level of skill a person has is shown by what colour belt they wear.

Savate

Savate is a sport, originally from France, in which people fight with their hands and feet wearing special gloves and shoes.

Boxing

Boxing is a sport in which two competitors fight by hitting each other with their closed hands.

Jujitsu

Jujitsu is a type of self-defence from Japan that does not involve weapons and is done as a sport. Other similar sports such as judo and karate are based on it.

Wrestling

Wrestling is a sport in which two people fight and try to throw each other to the ground.

Muay Thai

Muay Thai, sometimes referred to as Thai Boxing, is a combat sport that uses stand-up striking along with various clinching techniques.

chaku

Chakuriki Gyms

Anton Shishlyakov

Carlos Silva

Joško Kuzmanić

Mark Wieser

Nobu Hayashi

Ricardo Serravalle

Hiroshi Aizawa

Oleg Shishlyakov

Services

Merch

shop

Books

shop

MUAY THAI or THAI BOXING

Author: Thom Harinck

No Longer Available

MUAY-THAI thai boxing

Author: Thom Harinck

No Longer Available

'De Ontleende Kracht' Chakuriki

Author: Shihan T. Harinck

Free Online

Free Online E-Book

Thom Harinck; Godfather of Muay Thai Kickboxing in the West

Authors: Thom Harinck & Julio Punch

€23,66

Buy Online

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