Casserly wins in China

MARK Casserly notched up another major win for his martial arts roll of honour when he lined out on the latest World League Fighting (WLF) bill earlier this month.

The Tallaght man was invited to take part on the show which attracts a massive TV audience in China and faced off against tough WLF team member Zhang Xijie at -78kg degree.

In the contest, fought under K1 rules and which was the final one on the card, Casserly took a unanimous decision- one of just two European fighters to win on this bill.

“I had resigned myself to seeing a home decision, but I was delighted to get the win” he told The Echo.

“I was even more pleased because it was difficult with the jet lag and the food I was given in the lead-up to the fight which was quite spicy and unsettling.

“Coming into the third round he was throwing a lot of punches, but missing and I was capitalising on that by getting the cleaner punches.

“It takes a high calibre of judge to spot that, but they did and they got the decision right.

“Being on the last fight made it difficult and in the two before it, European fighters had been stopped in the first round.

“I’ve learned a lot in terms of what to do and what not to do, so I’d be better prepared if I fought again in that” he said.

Casserly is hopeful that he will be invited back to compete on the WLF stage and, while he will not be available for the next one in Beijing in July, he could well return to the stage in August or September.