BMA shine at Yokoso Open

THE Yokoso Kickboxing Open hosted by the YOKOSO school of martial arts in Amsterdam, Netherlands, is known as one of the friendliest and best tournaments on the circuit and it lived up to its reputation once again attracting teams from all over Europe as well as South Africa to compete in a fun environment along with high calibre athletes.

The three-day event last weekend was split with team fighting on the Friday, point fighting divisions on the Saturday and Light/Kick Light categories on the Sunday.

The Irish contingency was well represented with clubs from all over Ireland including local clubs TMA and BMA Clondalkin.

BMA Clondalkin’s fighting team of seven athletes were in top form finishing the weekend with one gold, three silver and two bronze medals.

Gold for Clondalkin was from 13-year-old Roan Derwin competing in the OC -37kg LC division.

Roan dominated his category from start to finish earning himself the only first place for the team Clondalkin.

Louise Shortt with her bronze medal

Older sibling, 17-year-old Cayden was in great form competing in the JM -69kg KL & LC divisions.

He lost out to a podium spot in the LC division by a whisker in the dying minutes of his quarter final battle but reached the final of his KL discipline.

This was a war of a fight for the entire two rounds with his opponent from fellow Irish club TMA, Callum (TMA), finished stronger and with it the deserved win and Cayden a top second place.

14-year-old Louise Shortt had a busy weekend competing in the OC -46 PF, OC -50 PF & OC -46 LC.

Gaining top experience in all her categories she also finished in the third place in a hard fought LC section and a nice confidence boost before the junior national championships which will be held in Tallaght Leisure Centre on March 9-10.

Robert Barrett also put in a dominating display in three selected categories. Men’s PF-57KG, LC-57kg & KL-57kg.

His strongest performances were in the LC & KL divisions where he finished in third and second place respectively.

Also eyeing himself up for a national title shot next weekend in all three divisions.

17-year-old Donny Caren has shown massive improvements since he only started competing last year.

At this event his skills were shown when he reached the final of the Men’s PF Beg -74kg and only lost out by a couple of points to one of the home team local favourites.

Unlucky not to podium at the event were Sean Hawkins who made his debut in the senior divisions and Kym Fitzgerald.

Both put on brilliant performances in their respective divisions and will look to finish in the top spots next weekend at the junior and senior championships.