SILVER LINING – Five Irish Boxers Contest European U19 Semi Finals
Five young Irish talents will look to trade in European bronze for silver at the very least with victories on European U19 semi-final day in Bulgaria on Thursday.
Grace Bailey, Louise Joyce, Kayleigh Byrne, Kristian Jubani and John Donoghue all banked bronze earlier in the week and will now look to secure silver.
The five look to book their place in their respective finals across what could prove another landmark day for Irish underage boxing.
65kg Grace Bailey takes on Russian opposition in the form of Bella Zueva in Bout 6 of Ring A’s Afternoon Session. Zueva is a former European Junior champion, and was last year’s Nations Cup and Adriatic Pearl (Youth World Cup) champions.
Multiple European medalist, 48kg Louise Joyce is first up in Ring B’s Afternoon Session, contesting against Azerbaijan’s Banuchichal Nasirli
Fellow multiple European medalist, 51kg Kayleigh Byrne, is in action in the next bout. She takes on 2025 European Junior champ and World Futures Cup medalist, Andrea Buelga Garcia of Spain.
Now triple European medalist Kristian Jubani opens proceedings in Ring A’s Evening Session, contesting against Scotlands Aaron Sarwar. The pair last met at the semi-final stage of June’s Four Nations, where Kristian was the victor.
60kg Kalib Walshe is in action in Bout 3 of the same ring and session, against Italy’s Daniele Fabi. This bout will be a re-run of the 2025 European U17 Championship final, where Fabi came away with gold.
John Donoghue, a World champion and multiple European medalist, contests his 70kg semi-final in Bout 5 of Ring B’s Evening Session, taking on Egor Skarednev
