Turkey 2018
South Dublin Taekwondo Club started their 2018 international schedule with a double header in Turkey where 2 events were held in the WOW Istanbul Airport Convention Centre. The World Taekwondo European Club Championships were helf from Febuary 6th-9th followed immediately by the Turkish Open from 10th-14th. Both events had massive attendances with many hoping to kickstart their 2018 World Ranking Calendar with a double header in Istanbul. SDTKD had 2 athletes participating in the WTE Club Championships; Ryan Doyle and Jack Woolley, the former who was making his World Taekwondo style fighting international debut. Doyle, also of Firhouse Taekwon-Do [ITF Style] and
Jack Woolley -First Podium of 2018
SBG D24 [MMA] took to Olympic Taekwondo 6 months ago and has been identified as a development student and deployed to Istanbul for valuable experience & to benchmark himself against what would be required in this style of fighting. His debut was a good outing in many respects, although loosing 11-8 in th e -45kg cadet division, Ryan was up against an experienced Ukrainain and showed a good transition to the new style of fighting, and much potential wish some refinements to his game. Also making a debut was Ryans Coach – Jack Woolley, who in the days previous sat the WTE Coaching Course and is now a fully licenced international Taekwondo Coach to assist the strength, depth & flexibility of his clubs coaching going forward. The team was then joined by SDTKD Senior Coach Anas Belmaati who was in the chair for Jacks first Day of competition. Jack earned a hard fought 5th place in his -58kg division, with a strong series of martches. In the round of 64 jack had a bye due to his seeding, followed by a 27-2 win v Danila Volkov (RUS) in th eround of 32. In the round of 16 he saw off Mattia Crescenzi (ITA) with a 26-21 win. Jacks final match of the day wa against Serghei Uscov (MDA) where jack took a lead, but could not hold off the offence of the Taller fighter who cam eback to win 13-8 with Jack having to settle for a 5th place finish in his division with 43 entries. Next up was the Turkish Open Event and the arrival of David Phelan who joined the team after his mocks to enter his first event as a Junior. David who had a great year at cadet was hoping to kick off his junior career where he left off last year. Phelan too was in a massive division with 55 entries, and had a close fought debut match in his junior career, winning 21-19 against Dogukan Celic (TUR) in the round of 64, David found his momentum then with a series of conclusive wins including a 22-8 victory against Bathuan Tural (TUR) in the round of 32, and a 13-8 match against Lebanese fighter Andreo Kobersy. Perhaps the highlight of his fighting career to date was his final match of the day against a very experienced fighter w
Debutant – Ryan Doyle -45kg Cadet
ho represents the Turkish National Team at both Junior & Senior level Kenal Kulik who has an immensely strong competitive record. David put it to the turk throughout until he was unfortunatley disqualified in the final roud for 10 penalty points, with the scoreboard on 24-19 to Turkey, 10 points of which David unfortunately gifted the Turk by penalties whilst trying to overcome the relentless offence of his opponent. David finishes with a 5th place in his Junior Debut, in arguably one of the toughest tournament on the World circuit. Team mate Woolley noted, ‘This was the best i have ever seen him fight’. The final outing for SDTKD was Jack to try to improve on his earlier 5th place. With many of the opponents similar to earlier in the week and more from outside Europe, the task may have appeared more difficult, but with determiation to improve Jack has his mind set on the Gold medal. Jack who was seed 5 for the event started off with a bye, followed by a round of 32 outing against 2 time major medal winner Illia Kokshyntsau (BLR) which Wooley won convincingly with a ‘point gap’ finish of 25-5. Next up was another major event medalist Niyaz Pulatov (UZB) who Woolley beat 26-14. After a very fast tournaround to the next match Woolley started slow in the quarter final against Emircan Turan (TUR) finding himsef 9-1 behind going into the final round, but finding the gears Jack imposed a massive comabeack in the final round bringing the score to 20-10 in Irelands favour. Now guaranteed a podium finished the next obstacle was Arman Serikuly (KAZ) who was overcome by 18-7 putting Jack in his first final of 2018. Another Moldovan stood in the way of Woolleys goal, this time Stepan Dimitrov, former European Champion. The match which was aired on live Turkish TV was viewed around the word by taekwondo enthusiasts and saw Jack take a good lead in the early rounds. The Moldovan clawed back some ground in the final round and with a dramatic ending to the match, woth one second on the board it appeared Jack was to win 10-9, until the Moldovan coach used his video replay card to try to get an additional point for his athlete for a spinning kick which had occurred shortly earlier. The video replay call was approved, ending the match 10-10 in regulation time. A 4th and final round was played where an early exchange occurred, Jack firing for the head, and Stepan for Jacks body. It was the Moldovans point who scored first, giving him the victory by Golden p
David Phelan & Coach Anas Belmaati
oint. Jack secured his first podium of 2018 finishing 2nd in a field of 58, the gold slipped through his fingers, but it will be a valuable lesson to be applied to matches later on the road to Toyo 2020. The eventful week for the club was a week of debuts in many respects, Ryan making his debut in WT style fighting, Jacks coaching debut, and David’s junior debut, and whilst not quite a debut, this is the first year Jack is applying him to the weight of -58kg and leaving the non-Olympic weight of -54kg behind. All things considered, it was a good week for the club. ‘The event was incredibly strong, our lads performaces would have almost certainly yielded medals & higher ranks at many of the World ranking events, and our coach Anas has once again gone away with great dedication to the team & returned with massive experience & medals as part of his contribution, noted SDTKD Head Coach Robert Taaffe.