One Win From A Medal – Donoghue, Whelan and McCusker Reach European Quarters
It was a Last 16 three from three for Team Ireland at the European U19 Championship in the Czech Republic today.
John Donoghue, Sean McCusker, and Jason Whelan all progressed to the quarter finals of the prestigious tournament with wins on Thursday.
65kg Donoghue, boxing his second contest of the tournament, won through to the last eight in emphatic style. The Olympic Mulingar talent was the victor in his contest against Romania’s Soren Segardi by way of RSC2. The World underage gold medal winner boxes for a medal on Sunday, against Ukraine’s Vladyslav Zheleznov.
McCusker, also back for bout no. 2, is through to the quarter finals, following a dominating Last 16 win over Estonia’s Aleksandr Jivoloup. The lightweight dished out a second round standing eight en route to a 5-0 victory; judges scored the bout 25:30, 25:30, 24:30, 24:30, 25:30. The Dealgan prospect is back in action, boxing for a medal, on Sunday. He’ll take on Finland’s Aapo Rovanper.
Whelan is also a quarter-finalist courtesy of a unanimous decision victory over Bulgaria’s Sami Hisham Hashem Khalil. Judges scored the bout 26:30, 27:30, 28:29, 26:30, 27:29. The Dublin Dockland’s middleweight will vie for a podium place on Saturday, against Germany’s Marko Nedeljkovic.
The trio join Grace Conway and Kayleigh Byrne in being one win away from a medal – three more boxers are in Last 16 action on Friday. 48kg Chloe Cox opens her account at quarter final stage on Saturday, as does 70kg Katelyn Butler, while 75kg Nessa Tabachuk is assured of a medal through a bye to the semi finals.
105 female and 189 male boxers from 33 nations are competiting. The participating nations are: Albania, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and Ukraine.
