Derry welcome home four medalists from the ISKA World Championships in Austria

Derry welcomed home four medalists from the ISKA World Championships in Austria.

Team Ireland won 39 medals, with four of them being claimed by Derry athletes, one of which was gold.

Bradan Nicell can now proudly stand as the world champion in his category after claiming his gold, along with eight other Irish athletes. 

Hailing from Strike Martial Arts Academy in Derry, his success was shared by his fellow gym goers Jack Johnston and Liam Grant, who claimed bronze, while the other medalist from Derry, Conal McBrearty, claimed bronze to make those at Rathmore Warriors proud.

Team Ireland and Strike Martial Arts Academy coach, Pinta Quigley, could not have been prouder of their achievement and Team Ireland as a whole.

He said: “We had aspirations of it going well, but that is our record achievement for the ISKA World Championships, so I’m delighted.

“Even before we left to go to Austria, they knew that there would have to be a lot of hard work and dedication. All the fighters put in the work, but these four individuals have put in a lot of work not only this year but for plenty of time before that in the process of just getting their name out there and demonstrating their capacity as fighters.

“I silently wasn’t surprised that they medaled; I knew they were going to do well, but nothing was handed to them; they really had to earn it, with five fights each on the same day up against some really tough opposition from all across the world, so it was definitely earned.

“For a lad from my gym to come home with a gold at such a young age and to be a world champion, it is an amazing thing for him.”

Fighting athletes from Portugal, Ukraine, Denmark, England, Germany, Austria, Italy, and France, to name a few, Ireland managed to place sixth from 42 nations in the medal table.

Quigley was a former world champion and has been coaching for the last 10 years, so he used all his experience to help guide his nation to a record haul of medals in Vienna, Austria. 

He said: “You set wee small goals at the start of each year, and doing well in the World Championships this year was one of them and what we wanted to achieve.

“I have a lot of experience, so at times it is useful to be able to say the right things, with each fighter being different, so you need the right approach for everyone, and you pick that up to help them.”

Quigley believed the achievement was only possible due to the momentous team effort from Ireland.

However, he paid tribute to the families involved with the group that travelled to the world championships and those that helped send the athletes to the competition.

He said: “For us to get to Vienna, there is a wee group of parents that have done a lot of fundraising. 

“We want it to be minimal cost to parents with the cost of living; that is a goal of ours for the World Championships. 

“Over the last year they did a lot of fundraising, so we want to thank everyone that did that and to the people of Derry who donated and those who got behind the team and the fighters.”