On a day of thoroughly mixed emotions in Italy, Tyrone featherweight Jude Gallagher was the sole Irish boxer left celebrating Olympic qualification after the final session of the Road to Paris World Qualification Tournament in Busto Arsizio.
Following the shock decision against Ireland’s Gráinne Walsh in her welterweight quarter-final, light heavyweight Kelyn Cassidy also missed out on a split decision to Nurbek Oralbay, the reigning world champion from Kazakhstan.
Gallagher, however, proved far too good for Turkmenistan’s Sukur Owezow in his quarter-final. The 22-year-old secured his Olympic qualification with a unanimous 5-0 decision after controlling the fight for all three rounds.
He also drew a standing count from Owezow with 45 seconds to go in the first round, and after that reinforced his superiority. The 2022 Commonwealth Games gold medal winner is now poised for his first Olympics.
”Ever since I started boxing and started to progress my goal was the Olympic Games,” said Gallagher, who boxes out of the Three Castles Boxing Club in Tyrone, and is now coached by Eric Donovan.
“It was always in sight but now that it has become true and I’ve booked my ticket to Paris, it is absolutely unbelievable. Right throughout this tournament, my faith and trust in the coaches has grown from the game plans they have given me. Sticking to their game plan got me over the line today.”
Gallagher added that his celebrations would continue with a Chinese takeaway.
There was no such joy for Walsh. The 28-year-old from Tullamore was denied an Olympic place after the judges awarded her welterweight (66kg) quarter-final bout to her Polish opponent Aneta Rygielska, on a split 3-2 decision, despite Walsh’s clear domination of the closing two rounds.
A ticket to Paris was guaranteed to all four quarter-final winners (there are no semi-finals or finals), and she may get a last chance at the final Olympic qualifier in Thailand in May, but this result will take time to digest.
The judges gave the first round in favour of Rygielska, but she was then given a standing count in the second and was also deducted a point for holding. Yet three of the five judges awarded the round to her.
After the third and final round, again dominated by Walsh, two judges deemed Walsh the winner, awarding her a 29-27 victory. But the other three judges scored the fight 28-28, meaning the contest was ruled a draw. Walsh then lost the subsequent spilt decision, despite outscoring her opponent on points, as three of the judges went for Rygielska, leaving Walsh in tears.
Cassidy gave it his best shot, losing the first round 4-1 before winning the second 3-2. But it wasn’t to be for the 26-year-old from Waterford.
Five Irish boxers had already qualified for Paris after the European Games in Krakow last June: women’s lightweight (60kg) Kellie Harrington, women’s featherweight (57kg) Michaela Walsh, women’s middleweight (75kg) Aoife O’Rourke, men’s lightweight (63.5kg) Dean Clancy and men’s heavyweight (92kg) Jack Marley..
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