John Donoghue has been crowned world champion after taking gold in the light welterweight category at the World Junior Championships in Yerevan.
The 15-year-old from Mullingar delivered a dominant display in the final against Uzbekistan’s Ulmasov Khikmatillo, as four judges awarded the fight in favour of the Irish fighter (30-27, 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28), with one judge in favour of Khikmatillo.
Earlier in the week, the Irish team competing in the competition in Armenia had been thrown into confusion over whether Irish athletes were permitted to compete against Russian or Belarusian opponents or not.
A heartbroken Tegan Farrelly was forced to withdraw from the tournament on Sunday when she was drawn to face a Russian in the first round, her tournament ending before it began because of an understanding the IABA had with the Government and Sport Ireland that they would remove athletes if they were drawn against Russians or Belarusians.
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However, despite Farrelly’s withdrawal, the president of the IABA Gerry O’Mahony said on RTÉ's Liveline on Wednesday that athletes could now box against Russians and Belarusians based on a statement by Minister for Sport Thomas Byrne in response to a Dáil question. Donoghue then beat his Russian opponent in Thursday’s quarter-final bout.
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