Ryan Jenkins left to settle for bronze at European Youths
Ryan Jenkins has been left to settle for bronze at the European Youth Championships in Croatia.
Westmeath light-welterweight Jenkins suffered a semi-final defeat at the hands of Ukraine’s Artur Kuzmenko in Porec.
The lively Kuzmenko advanced to the final thanks to a unanimous decision.
Cards of 29-28 (x3), 30-26 and 30-27 were all in favour of Kuzmenko.
While three judges gave Jenkins a nod in the final stanza, the damage had already been inflicted on the Olympic BC ace.
Jenkins secured himself a continental bronze nugget when defeating Emmanouil Fotiadis from Greece the previous evening.
Earlier in the tournament, the six-time Irish champ defeated Refik Kartal and Rafayel Nersisyan.
Ireland’s 63.5kg representative came out of the blue corner boasting a height advantage on Kuzmenko.
Yet, it was the eager Ukrainian southpaw who had the appearance of a man in a hurry to navigate Friday’s rush hour traffic.
The busy Kuzmenko was certainly the aggressor from the off. Jenkins slipped to the canvas at one stage before taking a count from the referee with only four seconds left on the clock in the opening round.
Jenkins took the count of eight again 35 seconds into the second verse, an occurrence that angered the Midlands man into action.
Although Jenkins got the left jab to work in the third, Kuzmenko all but knew his own ticket was being punched to Sunday’s final.
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
