Ward and Quigley secure bronze and now eye golden moments

Joe Ward and Jason Quigley, are both guaranteed at least a bronze medal at the 17th AIBA World Elite Championships in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

They beat Hungary’s Zoltan Harsca and Russia’s Nikita Ivanov, respectively, in yesterday’s quarter-finals — the first time Irish boxers have won two medals at the same World Elite Championships.

For Ward, who celebrates his 20th birthday next Wednesday, an historic international world hat-trick of gold medals in three different weight and age classes is on the cards. The current Irish champion claimed AIBA World Junior light-middleweight gold in 2009 and AIBA World Youth middleweight gold in 2010.