BMA competitors secure World Championship berths
By Stephen Leonard
BMA CLONDALKIN fielded a 15-strong fighting team in the All-Ireland Kickboxing Championships for Cadets & Juniors held in Citywest Hotel on Sunday.
And they enjoyed an impressive return from the event which sees national champions and runner-ups qualify to represent Ireland in this year’s WAKO Cadets & Junior World Kickboxing Championships which will be held in Dublin for the first time ever.
Given that, the All-Ireland Championships attracted a record-breaking number of competitors with more than 500 fight-ers registered in forms, continuous fighting, point fighting and kick light, competition was fierce.
Ireland’s top junior competitor Karyna Nikitina, who outshone all other opponents in her Cadet categories for the past four years, stepped up to the Junior (16-18 years) -60kg division for the first time and maintained her dominance.
Indeed she comfortably took a double national title in both the -60kg Points and Continuous Fighting divisions.
“Karyna is without a doubt the strongest junior competitor Ireland has ever produced to date” asserted Bushido head coach Salerno.
Shannon Gayson, meanwhile, took second place in the -70kg Points Fighting division in her last year as a junior.
Darragh O’Mara almost made it a club and Irish record in his attempt to clinch three national titles, but he was runner-up in the +69kg Cadets Points Fighting division after taking gold in the Continuous and Kick Light categories.
Eight-year-old Zach Lamari is the latest up-and-coming star to emerge from the Clondalkin stables and finished the strongest competitor in the Under 8 Points Fighting division to claim his first national title.
Luke Kelly was a double runner-up in the Boys -74kg Junior Continuous and Points Fighting divisions while Ryan Best Carey also twice reached the podium by finishing third in the Under 10 Points and Continuous sections.
And Anthony Kedney, Eoin Gorman, Abbigail Duggan, Croia Byrne and Dean Murphy were all well-deserved bronze medallists in their respective categories.
