(Left) Ryan Keating gets gold and Ben Cunningham gets bronze and Matthew Lo collects gold and Mahzar Rahman silver
Team Kali pick up medals at European c’ships
BASED out of Firhouse and Adamstown, Team Kali Ireland recently competed at the European Championships held in Belfast over the August Bank Holiday where they managed to pick up a sizable medal haul.
Kali is a weapons based martial art which can essentially be simplified down to a Filipino form of fencing.
Team Kali is among the biggest of its sort in Ireland and has participated and won medals at both the European and World Championships. The club was first established by Liam McDonald in 1999 in Firhouse community centre where they remain based today along with a presence in Adamstown.
Three of the club’s members actually won gold in their divisions at the European Championships.
Firhouse native Harry Kavanagh along with Adamstown locals Matthew Lo and Ryan Keating.
The three have all trained in the club for around the last five to six years before reaching the level they have today.
Harry Kavanagh with his gold medal
Founder Liam McDonald spoke about trying to get the sport to be more recognised and engaging with the council for possible funding and partnerships.
“The club has been pretty steady, we didn’t get a lot of publicity from what we’re doing, it is a minority sport and what we’re trying to do now is to spread it throughout Tallaght.
‘We’re going to approach South Dublin County Council and see if they can help us spread the sport out a bit more.
‘We’re doing so well at the moment. We are holding our own against the best in Europe at the moment. It’s a youth sport and we’re trying to get young people into it.”
The clubs welcomes beginners across either one of its locations in Firhouse or Adamstown.
If anyone reading would be interested in joining the team then Liam can be contacted on 0879956569. All new members over the age of 8 are welcome.
