LAST week was a hugely successful one for Shannon Kickboxing Club at the World Kickboxing Association World Championships.
The local club took home a number of medals from the championships held in Prestatyn, Wales.
Celtan Delaney was a double gold medallist in K1 and Low Kick, while Gráinne Egan also won two golds in Full Contact and Low Kick.
Jamie Dobbin took two silvers, for Low Kick and Full Contact, while Luke Flynn won bronze in full contact and silver in low kick kickboxing
Also in Prestatyn, Liam Alford made the final of the WKA Emerge Fight Series, a result that saw him pick up a professional K1 contract.
Howie Vincent is the driving force behind Shannon Kickboxing Club and he said that while Liam hadn’t won the final, he still enjoyed a very good degree of success.
“Liam was fighting in an offshoot of the championships, ina style of fighting that they’re trying to set up a league in.
“It was meant to be a 16-man tournament, but some of them couldn’t get visas so we ended up with 12 from around the world.
“He had three fights in one night, which is very tough. He won the quarter final and semi final and just lost on points in the final.
“He fought a Scottish lad in the first round, a professional MMA fighter, then he fought a lad from New Zealand in the semi-final and won that. He knocked both of them down three times, so he was fighting quite well. We just got pipped on points.”
The four semi-finalists are to share in a $50,000 dollar contract, which will see further fights in 2023.
“The way they’ll do it is a round robin, they’ll fight each other and the winner will go on to fight in Bali.”
He said all the club’s amateur participants had done well, with all four taking medals.
“The other lads all fought in the World Championships and did very well. One of the lads, Celtan Delaney, he fought in the amateurs at -70, and the winner of that gets to fight for a pro contract next year in Bali. He brought home two gold medals in K1 and Low Kick.
“Grainne Egan won two golds for full contact and low kick, two different disciplines of martial arts.
“Luke Flynn got a bronze for full contact and a silver for low kick. Young Jamie Dobbyn, he’s only 15, he picked up a silver in full contact and in low kick.”
While the tournament was initially set to be in Ireland, it was transferred to Wales due to a shortage of accommodation close to the original venue in Wexford. The move meant that some Shannon competitors who had qualified didn’t end up taking part.
“It was a bit disappointing, it’s hard to get a full team over when you don’t get any funding.
“Kickboxing doesn’t get any recognition so it’s very hard. I was quite pleased with the outcome, especially for some of the younger ones whose first major tournament it was.”
Howie feels the club is doing quite well at the moment, with a good level of local participation.
“It’s going quite well, I can’t complain. We’re coming back slowly from Covid, we are a minority sport and not everyone wants to get punched in the face, but we get a good few people coming up just to do the training.
“Everyone does the same type of training, the juniors would do the same type of training as Liam Alford and he’s a pro.
“It’s like soccer teams, Manchester United play a certain way, they do it from schoolboy and youth level up. We also try to fight the same way, from junior level to our senior fighters.”
Owen Ryan has been a journalist with the Clare Champion since 2007, having previously worked with a number of other publications in Limerick, Cork and Galway. His first book will be published in December 2024.