The Galway Black Dragon Kickboxing Club took seven fighters to the Unified World Championships in Spain last Wednesday and came away with an amazing Tally of 5 Gold medals, 4 Silver and 3 Bronze after a hectic week of action on the biggest World Stage and what is widely regarded as “The Olympics Of Martial Arts”.
Cian McCormack from Kinvara took Silver in the Full Contact Kickboxing Section and Gold in the grueling K-1 division in the under 18 years -63.5kg.
He took out top fighters from Scotland, Northern Ireland, Spain and Hungary in the process and actually stopped the top seed Spaniard with a knee strike to the ribs at 17 seconds into the first round in the semi final.
James Kelly from Athenry won Silver in the Low Kick division and Gold in the Full Contact Kickboxing in the under 18 years – 60kg.
James scored an amazing 4 knockout victories over Scotland, Czech Republic, France, and Northern Ireland and won the final against last years World Champion by knockout in the first round with a sickening spinning back kick to the midsection which left the former champ on the canvas.
Wesley Ward defeated Spain in the semis and South Africa in the final of the -57kg Kickboxing division.
Saoirse Joyce took on England, Ireland, and the Ukraine to win Gold in the -56kg ladies under 18 years and Catherine Jennings took bronze in the same division after having had a war with a girl from Czech republic in the quarters and a tough Irish Girl in the semis.
Paul Huish took out a teak tough Hungarian in the quarters but lost a decision to Spain, the eventual winner, in the semis to win Bronze.
Philip Lynch lost out to France in the veterans aged 41 to 50 years -84kg to place 4th.
