‘Who Wanted it More’ – Will to win gets Aoife O’Rourke over the line
Aoife O’Rourke admits she had to dig deep to keep her two-time Olympian ambition alive yesterday.
The European gold medal winner got her European Championship campaign off to a successful start when she defeated
Cindy Ngambu in Poland.
However, the Roscommon fighter didn’t have things all her own way against the relatively unknown fighter.
Indeed, the older sister of World Championship gold medal winner, Lisa O’Rourke, had to battle back from going a round behind, eventually prevailing 3-2 on the judges cards.
“She was a very, very tough opponent, the fight was as close as you can get so credit to her,” commented the Olympic Galway fighter.
“She didn’t take her foot off the gas and it made me want to come out even stronger in each round. The fight was as intense as it could be so thankfully I got the result I was looking for,” she adds before stating her will to win got her over the line.
“I really had to dig deep, I was down in the first half of the first round and it was a matter of who wanted it more.
“Every boxer here wants to win, there’s no easy fight and it’s just who can go that extra bit to push forward and get the hand raised.”
O’Rourke is one of nine fighters fighting for a medal today, but is not one of the seven fighting for a place in Paris. The 75kg boxer will have to reach the final in her division to become a two time Olympian.