Aoife O’Rourke, Patsy Joyce and Grainne Walsh secure medals at World Boxing Championships
JUMPING FOR JOY: Grainne Walsh celebrates as she is declared victorious in their Women's 65kg quarter-final bout. Pic: Ben McShane/Sportsfile.
Team Ireland will return from the World Boxing Championships in Liverpool with three medals following wins for Aoife O’Rourke, Patsy Joyce and Grainne Walsh in Wednesday's quarter-finals.
Double Olympian and four-time continental champion, O'Rourke is assured of at least a bronze after she claimed a 4-1 win over fellow Olympian Sunniva Hofsted in her last eight bout.
Judges scored the fight: 30: 27; 30: 27; 30: 27; 27:30; 30:27 which sees O’Rourke progress to a meeting with China's Chengyu Yang in the semi-final during Saturday's afternoon session.
And speaking to World Boxing after her victory, the Castlerea woman said:“It’s just about taking it one fight at a time.
“I am just grateful to have gotten that medal and we’ll push on in the next one and see what we can do.
“To be here, to be selected by Ireland, is a great honour. The gameplan was just to keep the pressure and intensity there – and try and be clinical and smart with my punches.
“You can do the plan all you want on the pads, and you feel great, but when you’re trying to implement it in the ring, it’s another story.”
Patsy Joyce will also come home with at least a bronze medal as he was the 3-2 victor over Uzbekistan's Mirazizbek Mirzakhalilov in his quarter-final.
Judges scored the bouts 28:29, 29:28, 30:27, 28:29; 27: 30 to ensure the Westmeath man, who at 19 is one of the youngest members of the team, will now also box to change the colour of his medal in Saturday’s afternoon session, against Spain’s Rafael Serrano Lozano.
“I was the underdog. I was the underdog yesterday as well – but age is only a number. I came here, 19 years of age, the youngest one on the team, and I’m smashing them up.” And speaking about the cut he sustained in his last-16 fight against Bulgaria’s Javier Ibanez, he insisted it wasn’t an issue.
“Not a bother - I got a cut but we have the best doctor in the world, Jim. Shout out to Jim,” he added.
And Offaly’s Grainne Walsh, contesting at 65kg, made it three wins from three after she emerged victorious following a titanic battle with Paris Olympics silver medalist China's Yang Liu.
Judges scored the bout 28: 28: 29: 27, 28: 28, 28: 28, 29: 27, reflective of a Round 2 point deduction for Walsh, who will now face Kazakhstan’s Aida Abikeyeva in the semi-final on Friday.
Overall, 540 boxers from 66 federations are contesting these champions, the first in which men and women compete for World gold together.
The competition is the biggest ever Olympic-style boxing event held in the UK, and includes 17 medalists from Paris 2024 and more than 30 boxers that competed at the most recent Olympic Games.
It features action at 10 weight classes for men and women with 80 medals being handed out, including 20 golds.
As Thursday is a rest-day at the tournament, the semi-finals will be boxed throughout Friday, and in Saturday’s afternoon session.
Although the exact schedule for both days has yet to be released, it is already known that Walsh will box in Friday’s evening session, beginning at 6pm, while Joyce and O’Rourke will be back in action between 12pm and 4pm.
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