Lee bows out with bronze and Olympic qualification

ANDY LEE bowed out of the European boxing championships at Pula, Croatia, last night with the promise of a place on the podium on Sunday evening when he will be awarded a bronze medal and, more importantly, his place in the Irish team for the Athens Olympics secured after a 28-17 defeat at the hands of the German middleweight, Lukas Willaschek.

While the German, a silver medallist in those championships two years ago, was the favourite going into the contest, the margin of victory at the end of four interesting if not exciting rounds hardly reflected the 19 year old Limerick man’s contribution to the contest.

But, while that knowledge will hardly atone for the disappointment of failing to make it to Sunday afternoon’s finals, Lee can be proud of his overall performance at the championships and happy that he has secured Olympic qualification.

For each day he had to battle his way through the pain barrier both inside and outside of the ring as he coped with a troublesome injury to his right hand which he picked up in the very first contest when he caught his Georgian opponent on the top of the head with a big punch.

The ironic thing about the injury was that he had just got the all clear on the long term injury to his left hand at the training camp in Germany.

Gary Keegan, the High Performance Team Director, admitted after last night’s contest that they were considering pulling him out of the semi-final right up to the last minute.

“He had a pain killing injection on Wednesday and the doctor advised against it yesterday so we decided to go ahead without it. To be honest we were considering pulling him out right up to the latest time,” he said. “We knew the German was going to be difficult and he would need the right hand to beat him.. The right hand is very important to a southpaw. It sets up the left hand.”

Just how difficult it was going to be for the Irishman was evident from the outset. The German registered two points without landing an apparent point but Lee quickly drew level and trailed by one at the end of the round.

Then came a ludicrous third round when Lee, despite dictating the fight early on when he got through with a few sharp, clean shots to the body was only awarded two points on the computer as the German raced into a 20-11 lead.

Gary Keegan admitted that the judging left a lot to be desired and insisted that the margin between the boxers at the end of the contest was ludicrous.

“Maybe there was a couple of points in it and we expected that but we thought it was going to be very close,” he said. “But there was no way that the margin could have been that wide. Obviously Andy is very disappointed with that.

“It was disappointing for him tonight but he will leave here with a bronze medal from the European championships and Olympic qualification. He can now take a hard earned rest and then begin his preparations for the Olympics. It is a great situation to be in.”