McGuirk on top of the world

JAMES McGuirk of Red Rhino Kickboxing Club brought home two gold medals from the ISKA World Kickboxing Championships in Portugal.
The former St Aidan’s Community School pupil, proved the most successful of the Ireland squad members at this event, topping both the -51kg and -55kg full contact divisions.
A winner of the ISKA National Kickboxing Championship -51kg title last year, McGuirk is finding it increasingly difficult to get some adequate competition in Ireland and so is looking to the international front for a serious challenge.
And he showed he is well capable of competing with the best in the world after his impressive return in the Algarve this month.
In his more natural -51kg class he had to negotiate three contests before reaching the final where he beat Miguel Sporry of Argentina.
And after opting to take his chances in the -55kg field as well, McGuirk was rewarded with yet another perfect run of six wins including victory in the final against the Ukraine’s Arduous Wassi who, himself, continued on to win the K1 World title at -55kg.
“We felt we had nothing to lose by putting him [McGuirk] into the -55kg division, but you could see the difference in the weight” said Red Rhino Head coach Karl Flynn.
“He was being pushed around by a lot of his opponents.
“If he had gone toe-to-toe with his opponent in the final he would have been knocked out, so we opted to try and tie him up before he could hit back and the tactics worked thankfully” he said.
With little in the way of domestic challenges until his next international outing, McGuirk could well be looking at the possibility of moving into the boxing, K1 or cage-fighting arenas.
“He’s a prodigy, a real talent” said Flynn whose Red Rhino Club has grown to cater for some 150 members in just three years.