Final bound! Adam Olaniyan set to dig for gold in European Youth final
Tallaght super-heavyweight Adam Olaniyan became the fourth Irish boxer to clinch a place in a European Youth final in Croatia.
Olaniyan overcame Oleksandr Sliesariev from Ukraine in a 92+kgs semi-final in Porec on Friday evening.
The big punching Jobstown ace is now nine minutes from a second European gold.
In 2019, he defeated Georgia’s Davit Stepulenko to bag a European Schoolboys gold in Tbilisi and now he’s eyeing up a repeat of the trick this weekend.
Olaniyan now joins his fellow co-captain Ava Henry, Grace Conway and Kyla Doyle in advancing to finals, with Ryan Jenkins and Tadhg O’Donnell earning bronze medals.
Olaniyan and Sliesariev were left to wait for a bout review, which fell 4:3 in favour of the Irish man in the blue corner.
Three of the judges were 29-28 for Olaniyan with the Serbian judge scoring 29-28 for the Ukrainian and the Moldovan judge’s sums totting up to a scarcely-believable 30-27 to Sliesariev.
This week, Olaniyan defeated Kryzsztof Zakrzews from Poland on a unanimous decision before stopping Baran Celik from Turkey.
A sometimes frustrating bout was halted momentarily in the first after the Irishman’s laces undid themselves; an issue swiftly remedied by Amanda Spencer, his Jobstown BC colleague in the blue corner.
Olaniyan was ahead 10-9 on three of the cards when he went to the stool after the first.
The duo traded wild blows as the clapper went by the end of the second – at which point Olaniyan was ahead on three of the cards around the outside of the ring.
Olaniyan and Sliesariev each seemed content to trade but when all was said and done it was the right paw of the hammer-handed Tallaght scrapper that was hoisted.
Now, he’ll dig for gold on Sunday.
Team
48kg Tiffany Spencer, Jobstown BC, Dublin
50kg Carlagh Peake, Ballyhaunis BC, Mayo.
52kg Grace Conway Dowling, Tredagh BC, Louth
54kg Nicole Kinsella, St. Mary’s BC, NR, Wexford
63kg Ava Henry, Dublin Docklands BC.
66kg Kyla Doyle Byrne, Whitechurch BC, Dublin
48kg Scott Thompson, Spartans BC, Antrim
51kg Jamie Collins, Drimnagh BC, Dublin
54kg Kai Ducque, Avona BC, Dublin
57kg Martin McDonagh, Avona BC, Dublin.
60kg Jack Johnson, Marble City BC, Kilkenny
63.5kg Ryan Jenkins, Olympic BC, Westmeath
67kg Ryan Connolly, Setanta BC, Kildare.
71kg Tadhg O’Donnell, Four Kings BC, Wicklow.
92+kg Adam Olaniyan, Jobstown BC, Dublin.
Team Manager: Anna Moore
Coach: Liam Cunningham
Coach: Amanda Spencer
Coach: Garry Kehoe
Coach: Ralph McKay
R&J: Stephen Kelly
Draws are available here
Day One results are available here
Day Two results are available here
Day Three results are available here
Day Four results are available here
Day Five results are available here
Day Six results are available here
Day Seven results are available here
