Editor Martial Artists

Peter Kruckenhauser

Peter Kruckenhauser

After a quick start in Kun Tai Ko Karate, Austrian jewellery merchant Peter Kruckenhauser decided to make his favorite hobby his new job. When German martial arts publishing and equipment retailer Sport Velte went out of business in 1992, Peter Kruckenhauser bought up Velte’s warehouse and started his own company. Budoland grew into becoming not only one of the biggest retailers in Germany and Austria, but advanced into becoming one of the most important wholesale companies for fighting sports, globally. Peter Kruckenhauser owns rights to equipment brands like Hayashi for karate, TopTen for boxing, kickboxing and taekwondo and Manus for sportkarate.

Don Wilson
Legendary kickboxing champion Don Wilson poses with Top Ten equipment.

His North American distribution is covered by Fighters Incorporated in Ormond Beach, Florida, where he is an equity holder together with his Czech partner Miroslav Sobotka. The Austrian businessman and martial artist sponsors various athletes, promotions and organizations such as AIBA (boxing), WAKO (kickboxing) and ITF (taekwondo) around the world in addition to national teams such as the Team Top Ten USA in point fighting.

Olympic Games 1996
Peter Kruckenhauser (right) with his former business partner Lothar Hirneise (left) of Hayashi and IOC president Antonio Samaranch. The meeting ended in Top Ten being signed as the official boxing equipment for the Olympic Games 1996 in Atlanta. The cooperation with the Olympics extended to the 2000 Games in Australia.

 

Roger Miller
Peter Kruckenhauser (right) awards Roger Miller with a cash award for winning the German Classics grand champion title in Mannheim, 1996.
karate sponsorship
Peter Kruckenhauser with German karate fighter Efthimios Karamitsos.
Kruckenhauser, Peter
Portrait of Peter Kruckenhauser from 1993 when he entered the commercial sporting goods industry.
Jeff Smith
Meeting with Jeff Smith at a NAPMA conference in Florida.