By 
STRABANE Martial Arts Academy will be well represented in Belfast tonight during the all-female Artemis 2 show in Shorts Sports and Recreation Club.
Nicol Pojawa will fight for the ISKA Ireland -61kg K1 cadet title against Nikole Glinkina, Niamh Cawley will take on Maria Rodrigues in a Catchweight 67kg K1 encounter and Kerry McColgan will fight Tashia Alexandrea in a Catchweight 68kg K1 clash, while youngster Mila Logue, who will do battle with Shannagh Dillon, and Alice Duffy will compete in exhibition bouts.
It’s fitting that the event is taking place on the day before International Women’s Day and the local ladies in action will be keen to display their girl power, particularly 17-year-old Pojawa, who is aiming to claim an Irish crown in her first title fight.
And after nearly a decade of preparation for such an occasion, she is ‘excited’ about tonight.
“I’m really, really excited,” she beamed. “At first, I started when I was about eight years old, but I had a bit of a karate background before that. I was training really consistently as a child and putting all the hard work in and now I’m fighting for a title, so it means a lot.
“It would make a younger me happy and proud of myself for sticking at it and keep going if I was to win [the title].”
Ahead of her ISKA Ireland title fight with Glinkina, Nicol admits that while she knows little about her opponent, she and SMAA coaches, Dee McIntyre and Mickey Coyle, have a game-plan in place that should serve her well.
“I don’t really know much about her but we’ve worked really, really hard studying and we have a really good game-plan, so hopefully it all works out,” she explained. “I’ll put all my trust into my training.”
Based in Donegal town, Nicol, who describes Strabane Martial Arts Academy as her ‘family’ isn’t short of dedication when it comes to achieving her dream of becoming a professional kickboxer, and that focus and determination should stand her in good stead tonight and beyond.
“[Since taking up kickboxing] I’ve been in love with the sport,” she explained. “It’s really good for stress [management] and all the people – you get to work in a [positive] environment and you get to build your confidence.
“Since joining [SMAA] about a year ago, we received such a warm welcome, it was like wow, they are like my family now but I really would like to be a professional fighter, so I’m really committed to this and the distance [between home and training] will not stop me, I just want to put in all the work and maybe some day it will all work out.”
