World kickboxing champion Daniel ‘Pinta’ Quigley will meet the President of Ireland, Mary McAleese when members of Paddy Toland’s kickboxing gym travel to Dublin next month.
Daniel will be accompanied to the garden party on July 10 by fellow kick
boxer and European light-middleweight champion, Tommy McCafferty. Paddy Toland (Club Coach) and Sean McGill (Public Relations Officer) will also be in attendance.
Speaking exclusively to The Sunday Journal, Sean McGill described the moment that the President’s office contacted him and requested the presence of the kickboxing duo at her garden party.
"I was absolutely shocked when I received the phone call from the presidents secretary,” said Sean. “She said the President had heard of the success of our club and our recent European champion Tommy McCafferty and world champion Daniel Quigley, on a recent visit to the North-West. She said that she would like to invite us to her garden party and then to hold a civic reception in honour of the club and the afore mentioned achievements.”
He continued: “I was speechless, I thought it was a prank call until I received the official invitations to the garden party. This is a great honour for PT's Gym; its members and hard working staff.”
When three time world kickboxing champion Paddy Toland opened his gym five years ago, his sole intention was to not only create champions, but to promote the sport of full contact kickboxing. One only has to visit the club in Carrigans, Co. Donegal and look around to see just how extraordinary it actually is. Five years ago kickboxing was experiencing relative obscurity but due to the relentless hard work of Paddy Toland it is fast becoming one of the most recognized and popular sports in the North-West of Ireland.
Two years ago club member Aaron McCarron was a double European champion, Mary McCauley was ladies Light heavyweight champion. Jay McVeigh at only 17 years of age fought for the Commonwealth title only to lose on a split decision. Jay is now the Irish Junior Lightweight champion and last year Tomas Logue was Commonwealth middleweight champion. Stephanie Green added further success to the club when she won the Junior Irish lightweight title.
Club coach, Paddy Toland said that the invitation from President McAleese was probably one of most memorable moments of the club’s five year history. The three time world champion explained that the reason the kickboxing club has reached such heights is because of the hard work and talent from all those involved.
“It’s an unbelievable achievement but it simply would not be possible without the hard work and talent of everybody at the club.
“The fact that Daniel and Tommy are going to meet the President shows how far kickboxing has come in the North-West.
