Woolley is Ireland’s shining light at WTF World Championships
JACK Woolley produced a string of stunning performances to finish fifth at the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) World Championship at the Tractor Arena in the Russian city of Chelyabinsk last week.
The jewel of South Dublin Taekwondo Club in Tallaght, he remains a junior in age at 16 and was one of 67 top competitors who line out in the -54kg division.
Selected for the five-strong national squad for the trip to Russia following his superb performances at three major events in the US, Dutch and Spanish Opens, Woolley faced the the non-seeded Bulgarian Kayolan Binev in the opening round.
He remained in control throughout winning the match 12-4, and setting himself up for a much tougher second round meeting with Turkmenistan’s Aleksander Kuvarsin who had defeated the World Number Six from USA in his preliminary match.
Yet the closely fought three-rounder ended 8-6 in favour of Woolley, who after a short break proceeded to take on Azerbaijan’s Mikayil Alyiev in what was to prove to be his most taxing challenge.
The rigorous energy-sapping contest lasted almost 12 minutes with a long break for a video replay in the final round.
“’To be honest, the video replay was not only to seek the possible head points” admitted Woolley’s coach Robert Taaffe.
“Both players were running on empty due to the physicality of the match, and I felt Jack could use the breathing space to guarantee he could hold onto his lead” he explained.
It was a wise move as Woolley continued on to take the match 21-13 and, with it, a place in the quarter finals where he came up against Brazil’s Venitilon Teixeira with whom the Tallaght man had shared the podium at the US Open in Orlando earlier in the year.
The Brazilian won the title on that occasion and he brought an end to the Dubliner’s tremendous campaign here as he carded a 21-7 victory.
“There was agony and ecstasy within a few hours. The emotions in the ring and outside were incredible” recalled Taaffe.
The team selected was Ireland’s largest at this level for some time, which speaks volumes on the development of WTF Taekwondo in Ireland currently.
Delighted with his performance, Woolley said after the event, ‘Thanks to the Irish Taekwondo Union and my Club South Dublin Taekwondo for all the support.
“I am looking forward to getting back to training and assisting others back home in return for all this help” he added.
