Woolley takes fifth in Grand Prix Series 3
AFTER winning gold in the Polish Open Jack Woolley flew to Taiwan to contest the Grand Prix Series 3 along with 31 of the other top players in the world.
The South Dublin Taekwondo star drew Puerto Rico’s Joan Nunez in his opener and closed the match out early on the points-gap rule 26-6.
This led to a round of 16 rematch against the Rio Number One Seed Rui Braganca of Portugal.
Earlier this year Woolley shocked the taekwondo world by beating well the European and World medallist at the Rome Grand Prix - his most substantial win to date.
And he showed that was no once-off result, winning again 21-20 to set up to a quarter final with Russia’s Mikhail Artamanov, the current European Champion and World silver medallist.
The match ended 8-8 with Jack slowing his usual attacking approach to combat the patience of the Russian.
In the final overtime ‘Golden Round’ with both athletes landing kicks, the Russian registered first, forcing Woolley to settle for a fifth place.
‘It’s the fourth time he [Woolley] faced the Russian, we haven’t hit the win yet,” said South Dublin TWD Coach Robert Taaffe.
“But today he stood toe-to-toe and we were unlucky not to get a punch scored in the last round. He proved himself today again.
“Jacks grandmother passed away sadly last weekend when we competed in Poland. She was probably his Number One supporter. He did her very proud this past week,” he said.
