Jack Jolliffe wins 14 gold medals at World Martial Arts Championships

155 World Championship Medals for The DOJO Karate Centre

Jack Jolliffe won an astonishing 14 golds, one silver and seven bronze medals at the Unified World Martial Arts Championships, held in Italy from 31 Oct to 3 November.

Jack, who trains at the The DOJO Karate Centre (Rochdale), was one of twenty athletes from the DOJO who returned with more than half of the total medals won by the England team (155 from 302).

Asad Rana also won five golds, four silver and five bronze at his first World Championship.

Under the guidance of Sensei Irfan Ansari, Team DOJO returned with 46 gold, 59 silver and 50 bronze medals in all. “Specialised tuition specific to meet the needs of the event along with the desire to perform better than anyone else and high self-belief instilled into our squad was the key to our success this time,” said Sensei Ansari.

Kai Sweeting had to withdraw on medical advice with a suspected upper-arm fracture in his first fight. A hospital visit ruled fractured, however, due to this time delay Kai missed his remaining three fight categories but did continue to compete the next two days to win in Kata and Kobudo events.

Sensei Ansari said: "The great results has certainly put Rochdale on the world stage as far as martial arts are concerned.

"All returned with lots more experience and feel inspired at seeing many high standard athletes and the many different types of combative systems people practice around the world."

The DOJO medals/trophy count in 2013 is now 533, with two events remaining.