Ireland won two gold medals in Sarajevo
Ireland has won two gold medals at the European Youth boxing championships in Sarajevo.
World Youth champion John Donoghue added European gold to his collection when he beat Arto Stepanyan from Armenia in the 66kg welterweight after a cracking decider on a final session dominated the Russian fighters.
Ireland has now won a total of 19 gold medals in the history of these championships.
Donoghue produced his best form in the final round with the referee giving Stepanyan two standing counts – on the second occasion the Armenian’s headgear flew off but he bravely battled to the finish.
But Stepanyan’s demeanour at the final bell told its own story. He had given his all but knew he had lost to the better fighter. The Mullingar Olympic fighter got the verdict on a split decision.
In the first session of finals, Edward Harty (Portlaoise BC) eased his way to a convincing 4-1 win in the 63kg class.
Long touted as a special talent, Harty was always in control of the gold medal welterweight contest against Armenia’s Aleks Peterosyan despite some bizarre judging from a Russian official. Harty won on scorecards of 30-27, 30-27, 30-27, 29-28, 28-29.
The Portlaoise boxer took all three rounds on three of the judges’ cards.
The Russian judge scored the first two rounds for the Armenian fighter whereas his four colleagues opted for Harty who was clearly the better boxer.
In the end, it mattered little other than to call into question some of the judging at the championships which is run under the auspices of the Russian-led International Boxing Association.
Ireland secured a total of seven medals at the tournament with Cassie Henderson 66kg, Eddie Corcoran (Mullingar Olympic), Kayleigh Byrne (Gorey BC), Kaysie Joyce (Clonmel BC) and Kalib Walsh (Wexford BC) taking home bronze medals.