Members of Tara Martial Arts with their medals
Tallaght Martial Arts Fight Team topped the medal table in the first round of the 2024 KBI All-Ireland National Championships held at the Tallaght Leisure Center over the weekend, and will advance to the Junior Championships in Hungary in August. They secured 27 spots on the Irish team at the World Championships.
Needless to say, the competition was fierce and 37 gold medals were won.
Nathan Clark is a triple threat athlete who won three gold medals in the -52kg weight class: points, light contact, and kick right.
Dara Kelly Clarke won -42kg points and two golds for light contact and one silver for kick right.
Clubmates Eoin Finn and Reece Doyle competed three times over the weekend in the points, right contact and kick right – 47kg weight classes, with Eoin winning gold in points and right contact, silver in kick right and Reece taking kick right and kick right. won a gold medal. Silver with points and light contacts.
Edward Comerford completed the podium with Old Cadet – 37kg points and won silver in light contact.
Dara, Eoin, Reece and Edward also won gold in the coveted club team category.
European kickright champion Cillian McArdle won gold in the junior 57kg kickright and light contact category.
Dillon King won gold in junior 63kg light contact and bronze in kick right.
In the -50kg junior points, Erin Birkhead won gold and Sarah Cassidy won silver.
Anna White won silver in the -60kg junior points.
Callum O'Connor won two bronze medals for right contact and kick right.
Leo Golding won bronze in the difficult junior 63kg points category.
Naman Shrivastava won the gold medal in the light contact – 69kg junior category, the bronze medal in the junior – 69kg points and the victory in the first leg of the senior points – 69kg.
In the Senior Women's -65kg category, Zara Jones won the gold medal in round 1, ending the weekend with a roaring crowd and a thrilling final.
On the podium this year, Amy Comerford won gold with points -32kg, Isabel Golding won gold with points and light contact -47kg, Conor McClelland won gold with points -27kg and Polly Jones won points -27kg. He won a silver medal, taking his total to a TMA silver medal. The number of medals won is 57!
In the second round, seniors will compete for a spot on the Irish national team.
From the first round, both points divisions were hotly contested with Kelly Brown taking the gold medal against teammate Lauren O'Keefe and Shauna Fitzpatrick taking the gold medal against teammate Erin Birkhead. It unfolded.
Sian Colvin and Aaron Keogh competed for first round gold in the -57kg and -79kg points sections respectively.
Hat-trick duo Ellen McCaughey and Stephen Jones won gold in all three categories in Round 1, followed by Gar Ryan, Conor McGlinhee, Jody Brown, Simon Ryczek, Liz White and Luke Daly. He stood on the top of the podium.
