Silver lining for South Dublin in Latvia Open
A BUSY period of international competition saw South Dublin Taekwondo Club in action in the Latvia Open in Riga, with team members Jack Woolley [Senior -58kg] and Adam Nugent [Junior -55kg] each taking silver in the respective divisions
First up was Woolley, who just recently moved up to -58kg, flyweight division and was looking for his first open event medal in this category.
Well used to being a top seed in his previous weight division, the Tallaght man has had to start from the bottom again, meaning he must face fighters in early rounds.
The draw was not kind, with a host of top com-petitors in his pathway, starting with Gulzhigit Kochkorbaev of Russia, who this year won silver at both the Universiade and the European Champion-ships.
Yet Woolley made a superb start, beating the Russian by the 20-point rule at the end of the second round 29-9.
The quarter final led to a face off with Number One seed and double European Champion Salaheddine Bensaleh of Belgium, a favourite for the division.
Woolley managed to maintain the momentum of his earlier match, winning 13-7 and setting up a semi-final clash with former European silver medallist Georgios Simitsis of Greece whom the South Dublin TWD star comfortably beat 31-13.
The final saw him up against recently-crowned World Silver medallist Mikhail Artamonov of Russia who continued on to take gold with a 13-3 win.
Adam Nugent, was targeting two consecutive wins at this level, but went even further, also securing silver which should certainly do his prospects of a call-up for the national team no harm.
His opening contest against Aleh Velkaselets of Belarus proved a tentative affair with Nugent trailing in the closing seconds, until he unloaded a spectacular head-kick in the final second to clinch this match 5-4.
He let loose his kicking game in the quarter final, winning 30-13 against Aram Muradyan of Russia and guaranteeing himself his first medal at this level
Yet Nugent, who just celebrated his 16th birthday, was not willing to stop there and won out 41-38 in a thrilling and strength-sapping match against 10-time ranking event medallist Antonios Andreopoulos of Germany.
Still the tough semi-final took its toll on the South Dublin fighter who required medical treatment and was even unsure as to whether he could contest the decider.
Yet he did make it out for the final against Dzianis Badanin of Belarus, but was beaten 18-6.
Nevertheless Club Head Coach Robert Taaffe was delighted with his performance saying, “I am so proud of Adam. He has been trying so hard in recent times for this performance.
“He has had an incredibly unlucky run in recent times and this performance personifies perseverance and he came through with a fabulous performance we all know he had in him,” he added.
Leroy Dilandu, who received the call-up after winning gold and beating three fine fighters at the Irish National Champion-ships, lost his opening match 30-4 against Nicolai Andresen of Denmark – a highly-regarded 10-time-ranking event medallist.
