Amateur Boxing: European Elite Championships
IRELAND’S magnificent seven bid to move a step closer to gold at the European Elite Championships in Montenegro today – with Belfast’s Michaela Walsh facing a familiar foe in her semi-final.
The Emerald featherweight, who won gold at the Commonwealth Games back in August, comes up against Italian Irma Testa after defeating France’s Amina Zidani and Romania’s Claudia Nechita to reach the last four and secure at least a bronze medal.
Testa and Walsh go back a long way. Quite apart from the several sparring camps shared through the years, the pair came face-to-face in the space of a matter of months in the summer of 2021.
And the 29-year-old will be hoping to reverse those results, with Testa getting the nod at the Olympic qualifier in Paris before pipping Walsh in the last 16 at the delayed Tokyo Games.
Fellow Commonwealth Games gold medallist Amy Broadhurst is also in semi-final action today.
The Dundalk woman - who landed World gold back in May – is a red hot favourite in Budva, and has backed that up so far with an impressive win over Turkey’s Sema Caliskan before a second round stoppage of Serbia’s Milena Matovic.
Broadhurst faces Croatia’s Sara Beram this afternoon.
Immaculata light-fly Caitlin Fryers has been one of the surprise packages of the tournament so far, toppling English champion Savannah Stubley and Bulgaria’s Zlatislava Chukanova to reach the medal stages.
Standing between the west Belfast woman and a place in the 50 kilo final is Azerbaijan’s Anakhanim Ismayilova in the first bout of the evening session.
Olympic champion Kellie Harrington is the most experienced of the Irish contingent heading into today’s semi-finals, with the Dubliner taking on Kosovo’s Donjeta Sadiku.
Harrington hasn’t had to be at her best so far, but the 32-year-old’s superior ring craft has seen her through three tough bouts against Maiva Hamadouche, Gizem Ozer and England’s Shona Whitwell– the latter two coming via split decision.
Shannon Sweeney is the first Irish boxer between the ropes today, with the Mayo minimumweight bidding to continue her impressive form thus far.
The 24-year-old southpaw produced a commanding performance against Armenia’s Gayane Ter Barseghyan before stopping Slovakian Nicole Durikova to set up a semi-final showdown with Bulgaria’s Sevda Asenova in the opening bout of the afternoon session.
Former European medallist Christina Desmond takes on Italy’s Melissa Gemini in her 70kg semi-final, while Tokyo Olympian Aoife O’Rourke – sister of World champion Lisa – is up against Love Holgersson of Sweden this evening.
The Irish team is already guaranteed to surpass the previous record of five medals secured by the men’s squad at the 2010 European championships in Moscow, when Paddy Barnes (gold), Darren O’Neill (silver), Kenneth Egan (bronze), Eric Donovan (bronze) and Tyrone McCullagh (bronze) all finished up on the podium.
The absence of boxers from Russia and Belarus has undoubtedly changed the landscape at these championships.
Although the European Boxing Council confirmed it will follow the lead of world governing body, the International Boxing Association, by allowing Russian and Belarusian participation at its events, the deadline for registration for these European Elites had passed when the IBA overturned their suspension.
Fights are being shown live on the European Boxing Council’s YouTube channel.
SCHEDULE
European Elite Championship semi-finals
Today
1pm
48kg: S Sweeney v Bulgaria’s S Asenova (Bulgaria)
2.15pm
57kg: M Walsh v I Testa (Italy)
3pm
63kg: A Broadhurst v S Beram (Croatia)
4pm
70kg: C Desmond v M Gemini (Italy)
4.30pm
50kg: C Fryers v A Ismayilova (Azerbaijan)
5.45pm
60kg: K Harrington v D Sadiku (Kosovo)
6.30pm
75kg: A O’Rourke v L Holgersson (Sweden)
