Trinity students Ellen Ince and Luke McGrath played an important role last week in the huge success of the Irish taekwondo team in the International Taekwondo Federation World Championships. Held in the CityWest Hotel in Dublin, the event saw Ireland claim 28 medals and collect the award for Best Overall Country out of the 62 who were competing.
Ince competed in three categories: patterns, 62kg sparring and team sparring. After a disappointing start to the week, losing out to Argentina in Round One of the patterns event, Ince enjoyed success in both sparring and team sparring, claiming silver and gold medals respectively in those events.
Speaking to The University Times by email, Ince described the “amazing experience” of competing with “friends and family at the ringside”. “The Irish crowd was amazing and always supportive”, she added.
First-year student Luke McGrath also competed in the competition, losing out in the second round to the USA, who went on to claim silver in the competition.
Overall, it was a thoroughly successful tournament for the Irish team, as they emerged with 10 gold, eight silver and 10 bronze medals over the course of the week. This included victories for both the senior men’s and senior women’s teams in the Team Sparring event. For the men, it was the third World Championship gold medal in a row in this category.
The tournament began with a very traditional celebration of Irish culture. In addition to the weigh-in, athletes parade and other administrative aspects of the ceremony, there was a demonstration of Irish dancing for the 1,100 competing athletes.
Ince was not the only member of her family who excelled in the competition. Younger brother Cian Ince, a fifth-year secondary student at Mount Temple, became world champion in the 62kg sparring category. He took gold after defeating Slovenia in the final. Speaking to The Univeristy Times by email, Ellen Ince described the pride she felt watching her brother emerge victorious. “Seeing him win the final is one of my favourite Taekwondo memories”, she revealed.
The tournament was a big success for Ireland, both in terms of its organisation and the performances of its athletes. They will hope to carry that success into their next international outing, the European Championships in Slovenia, which will be held next April.
