Jude Gallagher stuns Indian World Championships medallist to move one step closer to Olympic dream
Jude Gallagher has scored a huge win in his hunt for the Olympics tonight in Italy
The Tyrone featherweight defeated Indian southpaw Mohamed Hussamuddin at E-Work Arena in the Milanese suburb of Busto Arsizio.
After roaring into an early lead, 22-year-old Gallagher benefitted from a point deduction for his decorated opponent and he would go on to claim a clear win.
Edged by Cuban-Bulgarian Javier Ibanez in the opening round of the European Games last year, Gallagher saw his defeator progress to the Olympics. Having to stake his claim at national level once again, Gallagher impressively took top honours in the Elites, beating Dylan Eagleson and Adam Hession to cement his place at the Irish #1.
Returning to qualification, Gallagher began impressively during the week at the Round of 64 stage, dominating Algerian Hichem Maouche but Bernard Dunne’s Hussamuddin provided a far more daunting task.
The 30-year-old Indian veteran has been on the international scene since his teens, winning bronzes at the 2023 Worlds, the 2022 Asians, and at the two most recent editions of the Commonwealth Games but he could not hand.
A furious start from Gallagher saw him jolt Hussamuddin multiple times in a high-quality opening round which he took 5-0.
Hussamuddin, with former Irish coach Dima Dmitruk in his corner, looked to respond in the second but his over-eagerness saw him docked a point for dropping the head, giving Gallagher a massive boost as the pair continued to trade.
Edging proceedings 3-2 along with the point off, Gallagher needed to just stay on his feet in the final round which he duly did to claim a career-best win on a 4-0 majority decision.
The Newtownstewart man is now just two wins away from a spot in Paris and will face Moroccan Soulaimaine Samghouli on Sunday evening.
Earlier today there were impressive Round of 32 wins for Daina Moorehouse, Grainne Walsh, and Kelyn Cassidy. Martin McDonagh and Walsh will return to the ring tomorrow with Last 16 bouts versus Russian-Bahraini Danys Lapytov and Kenyan Anyango Asika respectively.
