Teenage martial artist from Kildare wins big at championship event in Italy

Shane Allison, a Fifth Year student in Monasterevin, has enjoyed further success as a champion Taekwon-Do fighter and kickboxer.

The 16-year-old, who is from Ballybritas, brought home a Bronze World Championship medal from Italy two weeks ago.

Back in June, he told the Leinster Leader during an interview that he was considering going to the WAKO World Championships at Jesolo, Italy.

Shane decided to follow through with this decision, and so earlier this month he travelled to Italy with the National Kickboxing Team to represent Ireland and compete in the event, which featured almost 2,000 competitors

He competed in two categories: Kick Light and Light Contact.

Shane faced three two-minute rounds against each opponent, and bowed out after fighting his way to the quarter finals in Kick Light while making it all the way to semi-finals in Light Contact and securing the Bronze medal.

Shane holding his medal alongside his Kickboxing Coach, Shane Culleton, from Laois Martial Arts

He missed out on the Light Contact final by the narrowest of margins to a UK competitor who went on to secure the Gold.

Shane’s mother Gina said that all of his family are 'incredibly proud' of him: "It’s just amazing to see everything coming together for Shane, he has worked so hard for so long.

"He really has to sacrifice a lot to be able to compete at this level. Regardless of medals, to see him represent his country – well there really are no words!"

Speaking about his preparation for the Championship, Shane said: "I train four evenings a week anyway but I did increase the hours with my Kickboxing coach for a few months before the Worlds and trained from 6pm to 8.15pm most Tuesdays and Thursdays.

KILDARE: Work starts on new café beside shopping centre

Kildare: Currys announces autism-friendly evenings in Naas store every Thursday

"There was a good few Squad training sessions with the National Team too and a full weekend training camp in Sligo to get everyone ready."

When asked about how he found the contest, Shane said: "Walking out to the ring and seeing everyone looking down was a surreal feeling, it’s definitely the biggest competition I’ve been to.

"It’s strange in the arena, the noise of all the supporters is really loud but when I compete I don’t hear any of that.

"It was also really cool to meet loads of different people at the competition from other countries. Lots of us have connected on Social media and loads of us swopped our tops with other countries.

"I have one from every country I competed against," he added.