KICKBOXING: Ballinderry’s Rhys Anderson is new world champion

Mid-Ulster is celebrating more world title success after Cookstown Mugendo kickboxers attended the WKA worldchampionships in Spain.
Rhys Anderson who won gold at the WKA world championships last week in Spain.Rhys Anderson who won gold at the WKA world championships last week in Spain.
Rhys Anderson who won gold at the WKA world championships last week in Spain.

The championships in Benidorm saw competitors from all across the globe take part with Cookstown’s Curtis Hay

and Niall McCloskey and Rhys Anderson from Ballinderry representing Northern Ireland.

The first day saw all three boys compete. Unfortunately, Curtis and Niall lost out - with Curtis being very unlucky not to get the nod from the judges after a fantastic effort.

Rhys Anderson won convincingly in preliminary bouts to secure a place in the finals.

A confident performance saw the young man through to the final against a Romanian opponent who came out very strongly. But Anderson did a good job of weathering the storm.

Towards the end of the round, Rhys began to take control keeping his opposition at bay with a good jab.

In the second round Rhys began to pick him off with strong techniques and, after a minute and 20 seconds, the Romanian dropped to the canvas, unable to continue.

The referee raised Anderson’s arm, pronouncing him the WKA Junior Full Contact world champion.

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