Team NK Chicago in Ireland!
Recently our National Karate Chicago Competition Team went to fight in the biggest fighting tournament in the world! This tournament has no form divisions – only fighting. The Irish Open hosts 4,200 Fighters from all parts of the globe and we were there!
Team captains Alex Dingmann and Jennifer Tohtz led Team NK Chicago with Dominic Kraegel, Josh Becker, Ross Cooke, Steven Harshbarger and Natalia Kley-Wisniewska. Dejuan Brown from Tankson Academy Chicago also fought with us in the Mens team events.
Dominic Kraegel (16 yrs) and Josh Becker(13 yrs)
Dominic and Josh not only fought in the Junior divisions but also fought in the ADULT MENS divisions! Amazingly they both won several fights against more experienced adult fighters! Fighting in the adult men’s division could be dangerous but ironically Dominic fought better against the adults than he did the juniors! I think he definitely had his game face on for that division. Both Dom and Josh represented our school and our country very well and should have a great future in sport martial arts!
Ross Wins Bronze! Losing by only 1 point to the Worlds Best Fighter!
Ross Cooke won the Bronze medal and had one of the most amazing fights of the tournament. He lost by one point to Raymond Daniels who is by far the best fighter in the world. The first round ended in a 8-8 tie. The second round ended in a 14-14 tie. They ended up going to double overtime with Raymond Daniels winning 18-17. So close! And against the best!
Jenn Tohtz, Steven Harshbarger and Natalia fought hard and dished out some bruises and represented us well. Natalia fell just short of the medal round.
Alex Wins Silver!
Alex Dingmann was on fire and ended up making it to the Gold Medal round! He lost a close fight to Kristian Jaroskeicz from Hungary. There were only 3 Americans to make it to the Gold Medal round, Raymond Daniels from Los Angeles representing Team All-Stars, Justn Ortiz of Team Paul Mitchell, and Alex Dingmann of NK Chicago. Justin Ortiz won Gold and Raymond Daniels and Alex Dingmann won Silver.
