TWO members of Northside kickboxing club Red Star recently attended the prestigious Hungarian World Cup, where they both put in great performances.
Lauren Bradshaw and Brendan Kenny were part of a large contingent of Irish kickboxers who travelled to Budapest over the weekend of May 13-15.
The Hungarian World Cup is one of the most prestigious open tournaments in the world and forms part of the WAKO World Series of kickboxing tournaments.
Lauren competed in the +70kg senior women’s category where she got to pit her skills against the very best in the world, including a current world champion.
Lauren, who won silver at last year’s WAKO (World Association of kickboxing Organisations) world championships, managed to out skill in her division and took the prestigious victory.
Brendan was in fine form and defeated world-class fighters from Hungary, Croatia and Moldova in the -79kg division, which landed him on the number one spot on the podium.
This result underlines the Galway man’s ability to perform at the highest international level.
Coach Jon Mackey of Red Star Kickboxing, based in Glasnevin, was naturally proud of his fighters.
“Everything about this trip was just fantastic,” he said.
“Both Brendan and Lauren had trained very hard for this and they performed very well. I was delighted with the standard of fighter at this event. We have always sought out the toughest opposition.
“This gives us a good idea about how we are training and our direction in general.
“Taking out some of the best fighters in light contact kickboxing is a great litmus test of our approach to training. It was a great team effort.”