Cousins and Club mates through to Euro Youth and Junior Championships

by Michael O’Neill

Dealgan BC first cousins Amy Broadhurst and Orla Garvey are through to the finals at the 2015 EUBC European Youth and Junior Championships in Keszthely  after convincing wins in today’s semi-finals against the champions of Sweden and Turkey respectively.

Broadhurst, a silver medallist in these championships a year ago today TKO’d Sweden’s  experienced Sofia Nilson – her second ‘inside the distance’ win in 24 hours – and now faces off against Italy’s Francesca Matussciello in Saturday’s final.

The Italians are once again excelling in these Europeans with four of their team already through to the final stages and another three in action on Friday. Matussciello, from Excelsior Boxe comes from Napoli and today was too powerful for her Russian opponent so no easy task for Amy Broadhurst if she is to bring that elusive Gold back to Dundalk.

Earlier, Garvey, boxing in the Junior 57kg class, overpowered Turkey’s Havanur En en route to a unanimous decision  and she now boxes off for the European crown against Russian Liudmilla Voransova,who was outstanding in the recent AIBA World Junior title event in Taipei and took the silver medal there so another tough bout in prospect for Orla.

Speaking to Amy’s Dad and  Dealgan BC coach Tony Broadhurst, who is in Keszthely, Tony was full of praise both for  Amy and for Orla and told your correspondent:

“Amy came over so focused and determined and 2 stoppages in both contests and to make her 4th European final in a row is such a proud and memorable time for us, especially her performance today was outstanding.  Orla has worked, listened and has got such a determination that no opponent enjoys being in the ring with her, she never gives up, brilliant attitude!”

More praise came from the Irish team management:

“Amy and Orla and all the girls were outstanding today and they each gave it absolutely everything in the ring. We are very happy with them. They fought their hearts out today and all week “ said Irish Team Manager Maura Campbell,

Belfast’s Caitlin Fryers had to settle for bronze against Olga Vozniak of the Ukraine. A big display from the Belfast light-fly, but Vozniak’s height and reach advantage proved to be the difference. Caitlin has impressed this week and is one to watch for the future.

Katelynn Phelan, the youngest member of the Irish squad in Hungary, will also be taking home a well deserved bronze following her defeat by Italian light-welter Vittoria DiCarlo. The Italian has been one of the favourites for the Gold since arriving in Hungary but Katelynn has had a fine tournament and will greatly benefit from the experience..

Irish coach Liam Brereton was another who was extremely proud of his charges today and said later:

“All that beat Caitlin was height. The unanimous decision, as was the case with Katelynn, was not a fair reflection. It definitely didn’t tell the tale of both bouts, he concluded.
“Caitlin is a ‘pocket rocket’ and Katelynn has the heart of a lion. You couldn’t ask for anymore from them or from all the girls today. They gave it everything, represented their country with pride and left everything in the ring. Outstanding performances all round.”

Saoirse Dignam, Chloe Callender, Kelsey Leonard, Shauna O’Callaghan and Lauren Kelly will be in semi-final action tomorrow. The finals will be held on Saturday.

Today’s semi-finals were due to be “live streamed” by the EUBC but sadly this did not happen and viewers were left baffled as they could only see two technicians for much of the time trying to fix the fault. Not a word of explanation or apology.

Let’s hope that EUBC and their agents will have resolved the problems by Friday’s semi-finals. Hopefully they will also issue an apology to the many viewers around Europe who spent valuable time trying to ‘tune in’ all in vain. This is NOT helping either the EUBC or the AIBA in promoting women’s boxing.

With their own staff on the ground in Keszthely why could they not have provided “live” results via their social media (Twitter/Facebook) accounts? This is 2015 not the 1950’s and  International boxing associations must provide a professional service 7 days a week.

Room for improvement? Most assuredly. The fans, the families, the coaches around Europe deserve an explanation and hopefully a quality service will be provided this weekend. Watch this space!

European Women’s Youth and Junior Championships:

YOUTHS:

August 19th (Q/Final)
57kg Amy Broadhurst (Ireland) beat Marietta Kiss (Hungary) TKO4

August 20th (S/Finals)
Amy Broadhurst (Ireland) beat Sofia Nilson (Sweden) TKO3

August 21st (S/Final)
69kg Saoirse Dignam (Ireland) v Sonia Sabiniarz (Poland)

August 22nd (Finals)
57kg Amy Broadhurst (Ireland) v Francesca Matussciello (Italy)

JUNIORS:
August 20th (S/Finals)
48kg Caitlin Fryers (Ireland) lost to Olga Vozniak (Ukraine) 0-3
57kg Orla Garvey (Ireland) beat Havanur En (Turkey) 3-0
63kg Katelynn Phelan (Ireland) lost to Vittoria DiCarlo (Italy) 0-3

August 21st (S/Finals)
46kg Chloe Callender (Ireland) v Gabriella Karolyi (Hungary)
50kg Kelsey Leonard (Ireland) v Katerina Rohara (Ukraine)
60kg Shauna O’Callaghan (Ireland) v Olexandra Kharytonuk (Ukraine)
66kg Lauren Kelly (Ireland) v Gabriella Petrovics (Hungary)

August 22nd (Finals)
57kg Orla Garvey (Ireland) v Liudmilla Voransova (Russia)