World kickboxing championship debut for two tuam f

By Jacqueline Hogge

THE largest martial arts event in the world will have two Tuam grannies among its most fervent supporters when two teenage kickboxers bid to become world champions in Italy next month.
Saoirse Joyce, 17, and Alex Fitzpatrick, 12, are among a group of six fighters from Galway who will travel to Tuscany in Italy for the Unified World Championships at the end of October.
Saoirse, whose father Ciaran is from Park View Drive in Tuam, is a four times Junior Irish Kickboxing Champion. The Leaving Cert student lives with her family in Knocknacarra but travels up the N17 regularly to visit her grandmother Ger Joyce, who is one of her biggest fans.
Alex, the eldest son of Sinead and Ian from Cortoonrue, is a double Irish Junior Champion who has also claimed the English national title in recent months. Having just started first year at St Jarlath’s College, he is very modest about his sporting success and has yet to tell his new friends of his travel plans over the mid-term break. However his grandmother, Breda Hynes of Bishop Street knows only too well how talented he is.