South Dublin Taekwondo

Jack Woolley returned home from a very successful trip to Morocco, where he attended the African WTF Presidents Cup, with a well-earned Gold medal, and 20 World Ranking points to his name after fighting some of the Worlds best fighters in the WTF ‘Grade 2’ Event. The event which had double ranking points attracted athletes from all corners of the world who came to compete for top honours and give themselves the best starting place possible at the upcoming World Championships in Korea. Off the back of his Gold medal in Spain a fortnight previous Wooley was in fine form going into the event where he was seeded #1 giving him a bye in the first round. The latter rounds saw Woolley meet many Moroccanson the way to the final. Taekwondo in Morocco is like soccer in Ireland, with the footage televised on national television throughout the day. Jacks had the opportunity to watch his first competitor in the Preliminaries and prepare a suitable plan. Moroccos Hazma Boulahroud won his preliminary match 26-6 giving him a chance to face the world number 2 in his next fight. Woolley followed instructions and saw off the match early with a blistering 23-4 TKO win, with his opponent throwing in the towel in the first round. The quarter final pairing saw Jack face Yassine Maach of Morocco and continued his form with a 29-9 points gap win stopping the match early and saving energy in the intense heat for later rounds. The semi final led to a match with a surprise unseeded  fighter Hamza Elhacham who earlier beat the African Games silver medallist Mohamed Grami of Tunisia, who the SDTKD had planned for in the semis. The match went all the way through the 3 two minute rounds finishing in favour of the 18 year old Tallaght lad 31-23. Another mouth watering final against the African Games Champion Moaz Nabil of Egypt was now on the cards. Nabil who is world ranked #6 is currently the most prominent athlete in Africa and would be in direct competition with Woolley for Olympic Placing in 2020. The two met in the final of the Moroccan Open in 2015, with Woolley scraping a victory in the final exchange of the match. The objective of the trip was to ‘block’ any Africans from winning gold, as Africans winning the African Presidents cup were to gain an additional 20 points allowance to their Olympic total this year. Each continent has a WTF Presidents Cup, which allows any gold medallist from that continent to apply their gold medal ranking points to their Olympic total if they achieve the maximum permitted of 40 per year. Woolley as already reached his total of 40 for 2017, but wanted to ensure his closest adversaries could not exceed their 40 point allowance. It was mission accomplished for Woolley, who came out on top with a 19-9 win over Nabil on a single ring televised performance. A very professional and patient performance seen Jack & his coach Dylan Leonard win Irelands first ever Grade 2 Gold medal for Ireland. Coach Leonard noted, ‘It may not have been the hardest gold Jack has ever won, but it might prove to be one of the most important.’ Jack now returns to training for the European Edition of the WTF presidents Cup in 2 weeks in Athens, where a gold medal for Ireland would see Woolley take away the 20 bonus Olympic points available to any Europeans who top the podium. Live footage of the final can be found online at South Dublin Taekwondo’s Facebook page.