Sport

Emerald girl looks to shine in Albena

KRISTINA O'Hara has a score to settle. The EU Youth Championship gold medalist will begin her bid for World Youth Championship gold tonight when she takes on Lalenkawli of India in their first round light-flyweight bout in Albena, Bulgaria.

Two wins will guarantee the Emerald livewire a medal, but club coach Harry Murray revealed she is also setting her sights on redressing the balance with the boxer who dashed her dreams of taking home a medal at last year's European Junior Championship.

Looming large in the top half of the draw is Ukraine's Hanna Okhota, who edged an 11-8 quarter-final decision against the Belfast girl in Vladislavovo, Poland en route to the gold medal last year and who O'Hara described to her coach as 'a Ukrainian southpaw pyscho'.

"The Ukrainian girl who beat her last year in the Europeans, she says she can't wait to get a hold of her," says Murray, who is backing his charge to come home from Bulgaria with a medal.

Murray first clapped eyes on his golden girl when the 11-year-old strolled into the Emerald gym six years ago.

Although he affectionately refers to the talented switch-hitter as "a bit of nutcase", Murray has been impressed with O'Hara's focus and dedication the minute she goes through the ropes.

"If you told her to do something, she could pick it up pretty quickly. When you said 'try this, try that', she was able to do it," he said.

"She was able to do what she was told in the ring, even if she didn't outside of the ring."

But the disappointment of going so close to a medal at last year's European juniors gave her renewed determination this year.

"She knew what to do this time, she put the head down and trained really hard," added Murray and that work has already paid dividends.

O'Hara was part of a medal-laiden Ireland team at the EU Youth Championships in Hungary in July, taking 48kg gold but her preparations for the World Championship have been hampered by illness.

A heavy cold in the last fortnight have made it tough for her to get under the 48kg weight, but with the help of experienced Holy Family coach Gerry Storey, who is a coach to the Ireland women's team, she has managed to duck under the magic mark in time for tonight's bouts.

And once she gets into her stride, Murray is confident that O'Hara's quick fighting brain can pose a conundrum or two for her opponents.

"She has different styles she can use on people. She'll go the first 30 seconds, ordinary boxing and then she can switch it because she can read the game well. If she has to change her style, she knows how to do it," he said.

Murray also revealed that this could be the last time O'Hara (above) has to make the 48kg as the intention is to move her up to 51kg - one of only three weights that women can compete at the Olympics - so the road to Rio is firmly in her sights.

Meanwhile, Amy Broadhurst and Ciara Sheedy advanced to within one victory each of claiming at least a bronze medal in Albena, Bulgaria yesterday.

But Grainne Gavin bowed out of the tournament after losing on a unanimous decision to Armenia.

Broadhurst, the current European and EU champion, was involved in an edge-of-the-seat contest with Turkey's Urguya Us. The first two rounds were fairly even, but the Dundalk southpaw pulled out all the stops in the third to book her ticket into the last-eight where she'll meet Jajaira Gonzalez of the USA tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Sheedy produced an outstanding display versus Tatsiana Kashyrskaya of Belarus, the Swinford light-welter nailing an emphatic 30-26, 30-26,30-26 unanimous decision across the board. Australia's Vaolele Schuster awaits Sheedy in tomorrow's quarter-final.

Gavin lost out on a unanimous decision to Ani Hovsepyan of Armenia in the bantamweight class.