Confident Harrington closing on world title

The hand of history will be on Kellie Harrington’s shoulder tomorrow when she meets Thailand’s Sudaporn Seesondee for the AIBA World Elite lightweight title in New Delhi, India.

The Dubliner cruised past Kazakhstan’s Karina Ibragimova on a unanimous decision in yesterday’s semi-final while Seesondee beat Yeonji Oh 4-1 in a reversal of the 2018 Asian Games final which the Korean won 4-1 in Jakarta.

Head coach Zaur Antia reckons Harrington is improving with every fight and there’s more to come.

“What did I tell you? You remember I said she is getting better in every bout. Kellie was fantastic. She implemented everything she was told. She won comfortably,” he said.

The second session of semi-finals will be decided today. As things stand, Ireland is the only western European nation through to the weekend finals.

Ibragimova, a stand-up but cautious southpaw, had her moments in yesterday’s last four meeting.

Her jab, the triggering mechanism for her hooks, was flashing around the Dubliner’s bobbing head in all three rounds.

But the Irish skipper, after getting clipped inside 30 seconds, mostly dictated the pace and terms of the contest through aggression, footwork and shot selection thereafter.

The final scores read 30-27 across the board to the St Mary’s BC orthodox, who threw in a cheeky shuffle and switched to southpaw in the third.

“She led us off in the first fight here. That’s fight four out of the way. There is one more step to take before we’re finished,” said IABA High-Performance Director Bernard Dunne, who is team manager in India.

“We had a really good discussion in the morning before the fight and we created a plan with very clear points for Kellie to work on. We’ve already done a debrief, she followed that plan to perfection.

“In fairness to Kellie and the coaches (Antia and Dmitry Dimitruk) they pulled off a fantastic win and we’re into a World Elite final.”

Harrington, who has won four contests in seven days in New Delhi to guarantee herself at least silver, is no stranger to appearing in world finals.

Two years ago the eight-time Irish Elite champion dropped a majority decision to China’s Yang Wenlu in the light-welter (64kg) decider in Kazakhstan.

She’s since moved down to the lightweight (60kg) class which is one of the five Olympics limits for women.

An action-packed Semi-Final Day 1 at Delhi comes to an end!
Catch the highlights and some of the best moments from today.🥊📸📹👀#AIBA #PunchMeinHainDum pic.twitter.com/X1gGXapdYY

— Boxing Federation (@BFI_official) November 22, 2018

Victory tomorrow will ensure that she’s the top seed at the 2019 World Women’s Elites and Olympic qualifiers in Ulan-Ude, Siberia.

Tomorrow’s final is almost exactly 12 years to the day since current IBF/WBA unified champion Katie Taylor won her first World Elite lightweight gold in New Delhi on November 23, 2006.

Peter Taylor, Katie’s dad and ex-coach, worked his daughter’s corner in New Delhi 12 years ago and wants to see history repeat itself in the Indian capital.

“It was Katie’s first World title in India and, hopefully, it will be Kellie’s first. For all the effort she has put in, she deserves it.

“It would be fantastic to bring a world title back to Ireland and I wish Kellie the best of luck,” said Taylor Senior.

Meanwhile, India’s Mary Kom is one win away from surpassing Katie Taylor after beating North Korea’s Mi Kim yesterday to book her ticket in the light-fly final.

Taylor and Kom have won a record five world gold medals each. Kom meets Ukraine’s Hanna Okhoto tomorrow looking to be the first woman to claim six.