In the previous two weeks’ Thursday edition of the Evening Echo, the winners of the CMAP Coach of the Year, Club of the Year, Lifetime Achievement Award & Hall of Fame inductee were announced. Cork Martial Arts Promotions is a non profit organization aimed at recognizing excellence within martial arts in Cork based clubs and gyms. This week, we focus on the Junior categories.
The CMAP Junior Female Competitor of the year 2013 is 16-year-old Emma Flanagan – a Taekwon-do competitor who trains under Coach Master Don Dalton in the Coachford Taekwon-do & Kickboxing Club. This year has Emma’s best yet to date as she travelled to the ITFU Taekwon-do World Championships in London winning silver in her category. She then went on to the WKU World kickboxing championships in Crete where she took over altogether and won 4 gold and a bronze. Emma won all her individual sparring sections in light, semi and full contact as well as the team event and she is the first person to win in all 3 sparring categories. Emma also won gold in the IUTF Nationals in Neptune Stadium, Cork to cap off a tremendous year of competitive action.
CMAP Junior Male Competitor of the year John McAteer – a kickboxer from West Cork Kickboxing Club under Coach Ian Kingston (2013 CMAP Hall of Fame inductee). John won the WAKO European Kickboxing championships junior -54kg Full-Contact division in Poland last September. He beat 2 Russian fighters, stopping one of them in the final. He is one of only 4 Irish juniors to win the European Gold in the WAKO full-contact division.
Next week, the final 2 CMAP Award winners will be announced exclusively on the Evening Echo so stay tuned for the results. The official Awards Ceremony where all winners will collect their trophies will be held on February 1st at the Gresham Metropole Hotel. CMAP wishes to extend a welcome to any club or gym it hasn’t yet been in contact with. Please visit www.CMAP.ie for more information on the organization and how you can have your clubs achievements highlighted and recognized.
Liam-Og Griffin 