Bushido pair make WAKO podium
BUSHIDO Clondalkin’s Aranas Orlovas and Zach Lamari both made the podium at the WAKO European Kickboxing Championships for Children, Cadets and Juniors, held in Gyor, Hungary last week.
With one of the biggest official Kickboxing Ireland (KBI) teams to travel to a major championships, Team Ireland finished in fifth place overall out of the 32 European countries that participated.
Bushido MA’s Zach Lamari and Aranas Orlovas won Euro medals
Indeed, the Irish squad finished just behind Bulgaria, with Russia in first place followed by Hungary and Italy in third- an amazing feat given that the nations that finished above them are all fully funded squads.
The Clondalkin club contributed to the nation’s medal tally with nine-year-old Orlovas taking silver in his first international outing before 11-year-old Lamari marked his third cap for Ireland by picking up bronze.
Aranas first took on the local champion from Hungary and was in outstanding form, beating the favourite by maximum score in the boys CH PF -33kg category.
This set up a final with a Croatian competitor who proved much tougher proposition, the Clondalkin lad having to settle for a superb silver.
Lamari, now in his third year with Team Ireland, was determined to return home with a medal and recorded comfortable wins in his preliminary and quarter final bouts.
After two days of tough fighting in the boys YC PF -42kg division, one of the biggest categories at the event, he was extremely unlucky not to get past a tough and strong Bulgarian opponent in the semi finals.
Francis Ryan was very unlucky not to reach the last four in the boys YJ Full Contact +81kg category, losing out to the eventual champion from Russia.
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