AOIFE O’ROURKE GETS OLYMPIC BOOST BY SCORING A THIRD SUCCESSIVE EUROPEAN MIDDLEWEIGHT BOXING TITLE

Aoife O’Rourke has won a third successive European middleweight boxing title, beating Russia’s Anastasiia Shamonova in the 75kg final in Belgrade tonight.

Earlier in the session, Mayo’s Shannon Sweeney won the 50kg title to bring Ireland’s gold medal haul to two. Kellie Harrington and Niamh Fay won bronze medals at the event.

O’Rourke, 26, who will box at her second Olympics in Paris this summer, is remarkably consistent in the middleweight division. Together with her three European titles, she also won the gold medal at the European Games in Poland last year.

Apart from the gold medal, she also takes home prize money of 15,000 dollars.

She had previously beaten the Russian in the semi-final of the 2022 Strandja Cup.

Using her height advantage well, she thwarted her aggressive opponent in the first round and took the round 10-9 on the judges’ five scorecards.

The second round was closer, and it was more difficult to score, with three of the judges opting for the Russian, which left the fight in the balance going into the last stanza.

O’Rourke attempted to control the tempo from the outside in the final stanza and finished well, which probably gave her the edge in the judges’ eyes.

But as the outcome was a 3-2 split decision in her favour, the fight went for a review by two ringside observers. They both opted for the Castlerea fighter, who won by a 5-2 score.

It was the perfect boost ahead of the Olympics in July, in which she will be one of Ireland’s primary medal contenders in boxing.

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2024-04-27T20:21:01Z dg43tfdfdgfd