Locals add to medal haul for Northern Irish fighters

Members of local club Jan Ling Freestyle Kung-Fu & Kickboxing Club played their part winning one Silver and three bronze medals

Coach Ernie Johnston won silver and bronze from the 2 divisions he fought in.

Competing in the +35 yr old vets +85kg on day 3 of the tournament he beat a Canadian fighter 4-3 in the quarter-finals.

Fighting against another Canadian competitor Michael Pisano in the semi-final match, Ernie won his match 7-1, this

set up a fight on finals day against 11 times Karate World Champion Carlos Tearney from USA.

On Day 5 of the event both fighters met and the American took the fight 10-4.

In the +42 yr old division Ernie was defeated at the semi-final stage by eventual Gold medallist, Bernard Frost (USA), 6-3.

Bronze medals were also won by fighters Adrian Craig & Gary Dickson in the men’s veteran 3 man team event division. Joined by fellow veteran Denver Hawthorne from Portadown the 3 man team knocked out an American team in the quarter-finals. Adrian won his fight 5-2 & Gary won his 7-5.

The Northern Ireland team then met the

Canadian team in the semi-final. They unfortunately got beaten 2 fights to 1 by the Canadians who were represented by a team of multiple World Champions.

Gary Dickson lost to 15 times World Champion Domenic Aversa by 4-2 & Adrian Craig lost narrowly 7-6 to Chris Keys, also a World Gold & silver medallist.

Coach Ernie Johnston said: “It was amazing to see our two lads, who have limited experience, raise their game to compete at this level.

“They should be very proud of what they achieved, they were the underdogs of all the teams in the event and came away with a well deserved Bronze medal,” added Ernie.