End of Worlds wait for Ward

Joe Ward will finally make his bow at the 18th edition of the World Championships in Doha this afternoon, aiming to become the fourth Irishman to book a quarter-final place.

Belfast’s Seán McComb is also out this evening, hoping to increase that number to a famous five, but for Ward it has been a long and tedious wait – the Westmeath light-heavyweight set to compete for the first time at the Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiya Arena, four days after three of his team-mates had their first outing.

The 21-year-old takes on Ukraine’s Oleksandr Kyyzhniak in the last 16 of the 81kg division in the afternoon session, while lightweight McComb is back in action against Azerbaijan’s Albert Selimov, who defeated the Irishman after a tight European Games semi-final during the summer.