On May 18, 2002, an elimination Muay Thai tournament was held to determine the best fighters in the nation and to qualify participants for the United States WKA National Team that will travel to Marina de Massa, Italy August 20 - 25, 2002 for the WKA World Championships. Over 70 countries have confirmed their support and the participation of their national teams in the WKA World Championships. The best of the best in the world will compete in one tournament to determine the true amateur world champions.

The elimination tournament consisted of two 2-minute rounds with a one-minute rest period. In the event of a tie, a third round was used. The finals of each division were held over as the superfights in the Excalibur Extreme Fight Challenge that evening. Those fights consisted of three 2-minute rounds with one minute rest periods.

Competitors were required to wear headgear and shin guards along with their boxing gloves during all elimination rounds. Competitors were prepared to compete in several matches to determine the nation's best and to gain the prestige of representing their country on the WKA USA Team and in the superfight finals that evening.

Participants in these WKA USA Team trials were be of amateur status as defined by the WKA as follows: No amateur shall have signed a professional contract or fought for any monetary compensation or participated in any tournament or matches exceeding the duration of five rounds of three minutes each. Furthermore, no person shall hold ranking in any professional list (i.e., WKA, ISKA, IKF, etc). For further details on 2002 WKA World Championships in Italy, please refer to: http://www.wkaitalia.com/en/index2.html.