Browne leads TMA’s charge at World C’ships

AFTER winning World and  European titles as a junior, Tallaght  Martial Arts’ Jodie Browne captured  gold in the -70kg division at the  WAKO World Senior Kickboxing  Championships in Jesolo, Italy last  weekend.

The Tallaght woman saw off the  challenge of defending champion Tina Baloh from Slovenia to secure  her place in the decider where she  beat Germany’s European champion  Stefane Mergli.

In all, TMA fielded six fighters on the Ireland squad for these championships which involved 1600 competitors representing 48 countries.

Keri Browne served up a great performance to win bronze at +70kg while Stephen Jones also went third on the podium at -94kg.

And with each fighter having at least 20 other competitors in their respective weight categories, these  were hard-won medals.  After an 18-month gap in competition and TMA being unable to train due to Covid restrictions, the build-up to this tournament was  less than ideal for Browne and her  fellow team mates from TMA.

Still they prepared as best they could under the guidance of head coaches at TMA and Irish National coach Dave Heffernan and Chief  instructor Martin Bannon.

“Our athletes have really pulled out all the stops preparing for this one”, said Heffernan.

“We were doing zoom sessions, training in their back gardens, in the park when outdoor training was allowed, but only recently have we  been back in our club preparing.

“It has been with a great sense of pride that we’ve witnessed the resilience and determination of these young athletes, but that’s what martial arts does.

It builds character and these athletes have it in abundance” he stressed.

Both Jodie and Keri Browne, along with TMA clubmate, Rebecca Kelch were selected for the Irish squad that contested the women’s team competition at the World Championships.

They served up a tremendous display to beat Guatemala, Mexico and Germany en route to the final in which they narrowly lost out to  Great Britain.

The Irish men’s team also had three TMA members in Gar Ryan, Conor McGlinchey and Stephen Jones, but, despite a great start, they were beaten by Hungary in extra  time in the quarter finals.

Another young Tallaght man, Eoin Glynn from Grasp Martial Arts enjoyed a great showing in these World Championships as he earned  bronze in the Men’s -63kg class.

Tallaght Martial Arts will now turn its attention to the WAKO Junior European Championships in Montenegro in November when 16 of the club’s members will join a 42-strong Ireland squad that will compete for medals.

On another note, TMA is now back up and running with classes for people of all ages.

New members are always welcome.