Karate Ireland currently have 35 competitors competing at the International Karate Union World Cup for Children and World Championships for Cadets, Junior, Seniors and Veterans 2015 in Maribor, Slovenia. This is the largest Karate Ireland squad to compete internationally to date with competitors ranging in age from 7 to 40+(Veteran).
The Children up to 13 years old competed in the World Cup on Friday and achieved a staggering 4 Gold, 5 Silver and 13 Bronze.
The Children’s Gold medals were won by:
- Danny Gibson from the Ballon club in 8 and 9 years old male Kata
- Amy Kelly from the Ballon club in 8 and 9 years old female Kata
- Cillian Morrisey from the Carlow club in the 12 and 13 years old male Kata
- Niamh Ralph from the Carlow club in 7 year old Kumite
Also on Friday was the Senior Men’s Kata where Eoghan Chelmiah took Gold, the first senior Gold medal ever achieved by Karate Ireland at the world level.
Saturday saw a veteran Bronze for Mary Boylan in Kumite and Bronze for Sarah Furey in Cadet Kumite.
Skip through the video below for a look at what was happening on the floor in Slovenia across Saturday.
Not Bad For A Few Days Work
Karate Ireland secretary Catherine Chelmiah was in touch with KCLR this morning to give us the following update about Sunday’s activity in Slovenia.
Fantastic achievement by the cadet girls ( Jasmine Byrne, Sarah Furey, Eve Sinnott and Dervla Doyle McKevitt ) to take gold in the team kumite final. Not to be outdone the older cadets (Ruth Sheehan, Sorcha Doyle McKevitt, Danielle O’Neill and Emma Heffernan ) have also taken gold. This is the first time a Karate Ireland team achieved fighting gold medals at a world championships.
Both female teams also won silver in the kumite rotation team. The teams were Emma Baldwin, Sorcha Doyle McKevitt, Emma Heffernan and Danielle O’Neill on the cadet B while on the cadet A the team was Sarah Furey, Jasmine Byrne, Dervla Doyle McKevitt and Eve Sinnott.
On the individual side Ruth Sheehan came out the winner in an all Ireland final with Sorcha Doyle McKevitt taking silver.
Eve Sinnott , Emma Heffernan took silver in their cadet fighting sections and Eoghan Chelmiah also had to settle for silver in his senior fighting section.
We also had significant haul in the individual kata sections, including a clean sweep in the cadet A section with Eve Sinnott taking gold, Jasmine Byrne taking silver and Dervla Doyle McKevitt taking the bronze. In the cadet B section Emma Heffernan took silver with Danielle O’Neill taking the bronze.
Not to be outdone the lads also held their own with Oisin Chelmiah taking silver and Joey Whelan bronze in the cadet A kata while Eoghan Chelmiah took bronze in the junior kata.
The girls kata teams were unlucky being narrowly beaten into fourth place.
Overall the medal haul for the weekend is 15 Gold, 20 Silver and 17 Bronze. Not a bad few days work.