Tallaght’s Jack Woolley captures Spanish gold

TALLAGHT’S Jack Woolley secured yet another gold and a valuable ten world-ranking points when he contested the Spanish Taekwondo Open in Alicante last weekend.

Seeded Number One for the event, leading to a bye in the preliminary rounds, the South Dublin Taekwondo star was handed an extended rest period when his first opponent from Spain withdrew due to injury.

There were fireworks in the quarter-final with undoubtedly his toughest test of the day coming from Jose Ignacio of Madrid, who emerged determined to upset the World Number Two.

Yet, after weathering this early surge Woolley won out 32-25.

Moving into the semi-finals, the Dubliner was pitched against another local, Javier Vicente, whom he beat 12-7 to reach his third consecutive Spanish Open decider.

A tough test lay ahead for Woolley who needed to beat Columbia’s Duvan Avella to secure the top tier of the podium.

Encouraged by his coach to “unleash his legs” given that it was his last match in four consecutive weekends of fighting, Woolley efficiently picked off his opponent for two rounds, until the referee stepped in to call a halt to proceedings one round early due to the ‘20 point gap rule’.

Having won bronze and two silvers in his three previous appearances in this competition, Woolley finally secured a long-awaited gold in Spain

Now continuing his Leaving Cert study, the 18-year-old competitor will also be in training for his next outing in Morocco in a fortnight.