Canada Open G1 2016 – World Ranking Event
Jack Woolley made a great start to his 2016 competitive calendar with a silver at the US Open in Reno, USA. His form has not stopped there, the young 17 old came home for a few days where his studies were the focus before heading back trans-Atlantic with his other SDTKD Coach Niamh Buffini to attempt to beat similar and same athletes at the Canada Open in Montréal. He did just that. The local lad not only won the tournament, but was also awarded ‘Male Athlete of the 
Tournament’ for his outstanding performances. The Canadian Open was a G1 [Grade 1] tournament, which most WTF Ranking tournaments around the world are, offering the winner a valuable 10 World / Olympic Ranking Points. Jack started the event seeded 2, which secured him a bye in the first round. In the quarter finals he faced Canadian Alexander Labelle who earlier saw off his Puerto Rican opponent in the preliminary round. Jack finished the match early 30-5 breezing into the semis. In the semen final he faced seed number 4 Joan Nunez on Puerto Rico, he also finished this match early by the 12 point gap rule winning 18-6. All eyes were now on the semi final on the other side of the draw, where 2 of Jack’s opponents from last week faced off to win the right to face the Tallaght star. David Kim from USA who Jack beat in last weeks semis, fought Mourad Laachouiri of Belgium who beat Jack in the US final. Once again the same 3 were fighting for the top position on a World podium. The USA v Belgium bout finished all square at 9-9 leading to a golden point round [next point the winner]. The American succeeded leading to a final in the -54kg category against Woolley. This is the third time Kim faced Woolley, he beat him in the final of the 2015 US Open, Jack beat him in the semi-final of the 2016, edition. This head to head rivalry tie break match proved another roller-coaster instalment. A couple of tactical adjustments from last weeks encounter were employed, and both high octane kickers were scoring points on each other. The final 8 seconds of the match was the ultimate nail biter for Jack’s adopted fans stateside when he was loosing 8-6. A final flurry of kicks in Jack’s ‘head hunting’ style opened up his opponent, and with a third head kick thrown in one skip, he landed. Now 9-8 in Woolley favour, he secured the match with a final body kick, winning 10-8. 
Tournament’ for his outstanding performances. The Canadian Open was a G1 [Grade 1] tournament, which most WTF Ranking tournaments around the world are, offering the winner a valuable 10 World / Olympic Ranking Points. Jack started the event seeded 2, which secured him a bye in the first round. In the quarter finals he faced Canadian Alexander Labelle who earlier saw off his Puerto Rican opponent in the preliminary round. Jack finished the match early 30-5 breezing into the semis. In the semen final he faced seed number 4 Joan Nunez on Puerto Rico, he also finished this match early by the 12 point gap rule winning 18-6. All eyes were now on the semi final on the other side of the draw, where 2 of Jack’s opponents from last week faced off to win the right to face the Tallaght star. David Kim from USA who Jack beat in last weeks semis, fought Mourad Laachouiri of Belgium who beat Jack in the US final. Once again the same 3 were fighting for the top position on a World podium. The USA v Belgium bout finished all square at 9-9 leading to a golden point round [next point the winner]. The American succeeded leading to a final in the -54kg category against Woolley. This is the third time Kim faced Woolley, he beat him in the final of the 2015 US Open, Jack beat him in the semi-final of the 2016, edition. This head to head rivalry tie break match proved another roller-coaster instalment. A couple of tactical adjustments from last weeks encounter were employed, and both high octane kickers were scoring points on each other. The final 8 seconds of the match was the ultimate nail biter for Jack’s adopted fans stateside when he was loosing 8-6. A final flurry of kicks in Jack’s ‘head hunting’ style opened up his opponent, and with a third head kick thrown in one skip, he landed. Now 9-8 in Woolley favour, he secured the match with a final body kick, winning 10-8. To summarise on Jack’s few days, the following was noted on South Dublin Taekwondo’s Facebook page, ‘2 events, 9 days, 8 flights, 4 Atlantic crossings, 7 matches, 6 wins (4 by point gap), 2 podium finishes, 22 WTF Ranking Points.’ Incredibly, the Echo managed to catch up with Jack for a moment where he attended the launch of 2016 Sports Star of the Year awards. He popped in between flights when he landed from Montréal, before heading back out to Turkey that evening, where he is due to fight today in the European Club Taekwondo Championships where he hopes to gain some more valuable mat time and World Ranking points when representing his club in their first attendance at this event, which was identified not only for player development, but also Coach development to assist the up & coming younger stars who train in Tallaght Leisure Centre, where SDTKD’s 3rd European Licenced Coach Dylan Leonard has kindly offered his time to assist Jack participate throughout the world in his endeavours to reach Tokyo 2020.