Tadhg O’Donnell opened Team Ireland’s account at the World Youth Championships in style.
He and contested a Last 32 bout against Bulgaria’s G Zaprinov, and it was all over in under 35 seconds. The Referee gave 3 standing counts to the Bulgarian boxer, and waved the bout off.
Tadhg contests his Last 16 bout against Colombia’s J. Franco, who got a bye to that stage of the competition.
The tournament is the pinnacle of competition for boxers of this age group. 660 boxers from 88 national federations will represent their countries at the championship, which is being hosted by the Montenegro Boxing Federation from October 20th to November 6th. November 1st will be a rest day at the tournament, and all finals will be boxed on November 2nd and 3rd. The competition schedule is available here
This is a biannual tournament and was last contested by Ireland in La Nucia, Spain, in November 2022. Ireland returned with 6 medals: Gold for 81kg Cliona D’Arcy and light heavy, Team Co-Captain Dearbhla Tinnelly, Lightweight Lee McEvoy, light middle Laura Moran and Team Co-Captain, welter Jim Donovan all came home with bronze medals.
Day Two
No Team Ireland boxers are in action on the second day of the tournament – all of Thursday’s programmes are available here
IBA is streaming the tournament on it’s YouTube channel, with separate streams per ring and session – they are available here
Day Three
Two Team Ireland boxers are between the ropes on the 3rd day of the tournament – both boxers contest in Ring A’s Evening Session, which begins at 5pm, Irish time.
In bout 3, 63.5kg Ryan Jenkins, of Olympic BC Mullingar, will be two wins away from a medal when he takes on Israel’s A. Rahal
Team Captain, reigning European Youth champion Adam Olaniyan of Jobstown BC, Dublin begins his tournament at Last 16 stage, against Mexico’s E. Ramirez Contreras – that’s bout 10.
Team Ireland
60kg Kayleigh Whelan, Avona BC, Dublin
63kg Siofra Lawless, Four Kings BC, Wicklow
66kg Kyla Doyle Byrne, Whitechurch BC Dublin
57kg Jamie Graham, Clonard BC, Belfast
60kg Martin McDonagh, Avona BC, Dublin
63.5kg Ryan Jenkins, Olympic BC Mullingar
71kg Tadhg O’Donnell, Four Kings BC, Wicklow
92+kg Adam Olaniyan, Jobstown BC, Dublin
Team Manager: Anna Moore
Coach Liam Cunningham
Coach Garry Kehoe
Coach Ralph McKay