Kicking king Brosnan strikes gold for Ireland

BRIAN BROSNAN became the first Irish fighter to win a gold medal in full contact kickboxing at the WAKO World Kickboxing Championships in Dublin on Saturday night.

The Galway Kickboxing Club member beat Stelyan Avramidi of Kazakhstan to claim the gold medal at -71kg by unanimous decision at the Citywest Hotel and Conference Centre in Dublin. Brosnan said: “I can’t even describe what it feels like to be world champion,

“I don’t think it has fully sunk in yet.”

His father and coach Denis added: “He’s been training since he could walk. I’m very proud of him.”

Ireland won six medals at the finals. Three of those were silver in semi-contact kickboxing.

Ireland’s former world champion Robbie McMenamy lost out to Zsolt Moradi of Hungary in the final seconds of the -79kg final while Des Leonard lost his final in extra time.

Ireland’s youngest competitor, Ashley St Mart (16), was bitterly disappointed after losing a tough final against Laszlo Varga of Hungary while Niall McDermott and Shauna Bannon claimed bronze medals in the -67kg full contact and -60kg semi contact respectively.