Confirmation of Katie Taylor’s quarter-final bout at these European Games in Baku has made for interesting reading.
Taylor is up against Sweden’s Ida Lundblad in the last eight, that bout now confirmed for Wednesday morning at 8.45am Irish time (not Tuesday, as listed in some schedules), and another victory there will guarantee the Bray fighter at least a bronze medal.
Lundbald shouldn’t worry her, especially as the wrist injury Taylor sustained in Korea late last year looks to have completely healed when she breezed past her old lightweight rival Denista Eliseeva from Bulgaria in Sunday’s first 16 bout: Eliseeva is the last boxer to actually defeat Taylor, in 2011, albeit in highly dubious circumstances.
There will, however, be a fascinating contest in another quarter-final, where the Russian Zinaida Dobrynina faces the local medal hope Yana Alekseevna from Azerbaijan. The winner of that will face Taylor next, assuming the Bray boxer progresses.
Dobrynina is a former world number one featherweight (57kg) but has now moved up to Taylor’s lightweight division (60kg). Dobrynina actually won her world featherweight title in Jeju, South Korea last November immediately before Taylor won her lightweight title.
It was Alekseevna who Taylor beat in her final bout in Jeju, and if everything goes to plan, Taylor will face either her or Dobrynina in the semi-final. That fight, set for Friday, again assuming of course Taylor gets there, might decide the gold medal.
