Tallaght’s Jack Woolley takes bronze in Germany

By Stephen Leonard

SOUTH Dublin Taekwondo’s Jack Woolley kicked off his busy 2017 schedule with a bronze medal in the German Open in Hamburg last weekend.

The first event of the year, the tournament also showcased the new rule changes in WTF Taekwondo. Woolley went into the competition seeded Number One, giving him a bye into the second round where he faced Hassan Haider of GBR who, last year, defeated the Tallaght man at the semi finals of the same event.

Yet Woolley emerged top this time around, defeating the Scot 15-13 and setting up a quarter final clash with Spaniard Javier Vicente Ramos whom he beat 20-14.

This led to a semi final against Tunisia’s Mohamed Grami whom the Tallaght native had already beaten twice.

Yet a last-gasp attack by the African Championship silver medallist denied Woolley victory and forced him to settle for bronze again in Germany.

Speaking after the event, Woolley’s coach Robert Taaffe said: “it was a good exercise to practice the new rules which penalise leggy front leg fighters, and it was an experience we needed before our first big event the US Open in Vegas next week, when double ranking points will be available and the division of 62 athletes contains many of the top guns we expect to meet in the Worlds in Korea later this year.

“We use events as training exercises and a bronze in Germany will ignite some fire in the belly to go a step further in USA” he added.