Ennis student stars at inter-varsities

CLARE student Conall Tunney made a strong start to his inter-varsity karate career in Waterford at the weekend, coming away with two bronze medals at his first attempt.
In the Irish Karate Inter-varsities, students are drawn from universities, institutes of Technology and third-level colleges and compete for a wide range of karate titles. This year, the tournament was hosted by the Waterford Institute of Technology and Conall, who is a first-year psychology student in University College Dublin, was competing in the blue ribbon, male/black belt events.
First up on Saturday morning was the Kata, or forms competition, and with 28 black-belt competitors in the field, it was the strongest held in Ireland this year so far. After three elimination rounds, there was some surprise in the sports hall that at that stage the 19-year-old from Ennis was the number one-ranked competitor. In a fiercely contested eight-man final, Tunney was delighted to come away with the bronze medal.
The Kumite, or fighting, followed a similar pattern with the Clare teenager cutting a swathe through a field of more experienced college fighters before coming up against the reigning inter-varsity champion, fellow UCD student, John Hannaway, in the semi-final. In the fight of the tournament, the experienced Hannaway eventually outclassed his younger opponent on his way to winning his second gold medal of the day.
In the fight-off for third place, Conall showed his future potential by taking his second bronze of the weekend. “I had some really exciting fights today and I’m thrilled,” he said afterwards. ‘I suppose, if I had been in the other half of the Kumite draw, I might have made the final but on my first outing at this level, I have to be pleased with the two medals.’

Elected to executive
ON the Friday night before the competition, Tunney was elected secretary of the Irish Students’ Karate Federation and so will play a major role in organising future inter-varsities. Commenting on the significance of his election, he said, “Our immediate goal will be to run a tournament for third-level students under World Karate Federation rules, one that will qualify the winners to compete in the prestigious World University Karate Championships, the third-highest ranked tournament in the world. It will be a big challenge.”
Conall is a member of the successful WSKF Ennis Karate Academy.