Aoife O’Rourke has her hand raised in victory tonight
Aoife O’Rourke is the new European Elite 75kg champion.
The Roscommon middleweight beat Polish southpaw Elziebta Wojcik on a unanimous decision in Madrid tonight to become the only Irish female fighter besides six-time titlist Katie Taylor to win gold at this level.
The final scores unanimously read in favour of O’Rourke at the end of a fiery encounter with the Castlerea BC ace dominating the second round after losing out 4-1 in the first. The new champion won the third across the board.
Final scores – 30-27 and 29-28,29-28,29-28.29-28 to the NEW European middleweight champion.
IABA estimates that the gold for O’Rourke and bronze for Amy Broadhurst will secure a top four finish in the medals table at the 31-nation competition – to be confirmed.
Up beat Irish head coach Zaur Antia and Irish coach Damian Kennedy reckon the future “is green.”
“Aoife was phenomenal,” said Antia. “Brilliant performance and she’s made history for such a young woman. She has a great future ahead of her – the future is green.”
Ireland team manager JP Kinsella believes a massive second round swung it in favour of the Irish titlist.
“A brilliant performance from Aoife and a brilliant result. To say we are thrilled would be an understatement. She had a huge second round, absolutely huge,” said Kinsella after O’Rourke delivered gold from bout No. 124 and the third last contest at the 12th edition of the tournament.
O’Rourke won three fights en route to gold at the 12th edition of the tournament.
Amy Broadhurst, pictured below, accepted her bronze medal this evening.
Broadhurst, Ceire Smith and Christina Desmond were only beaten by the eventual gold medallists – Naz Buse Cakiroglu (Turkey), Darima Sandakova (Russia) and Mira Potkonen (Finland) – in Madrid in results similar to Bejing 2008 where the entire five-strong Irish squad were only beaten by the eventual Olympic champions.
The Irish squad are due to arrive home via Dublin Airport this Sunday morning at 10.40am. (Flight 1B3792; Departure Madrid: 09.10. Arrival Dublin: 10.40 (Terminal 1).
All media are invited to attend Sunday’s homecoming.
European Women’s Elite Championships Madrid, Spain August 22/31
August 31
Final
75kg Aoife O’Rourke (Ireland) beat Elziebta Wojcik (Poland) 5-0
August 30
S/Finals
60kg Amy Broadhurst (Ireland) lost to Mira Potkonen (Finland) 0-5
75kg Aoife O’Rourke (Ireland) beat Anastasia Shamonova (Russia) 4-1
August 28
Q/Finals
60kg Amy Broadhurst (Ireland) beat Anastasia Belokova (Russia) 5-0
69kg Christina Desmond (Ireland) lost to Darima Sandakova (Russia) 1-4
August 27
Last 16
69kg Christina Desmond (Ireland) beat Leonie Anna Van Leeuwen (Netherlands) 5-0
August 26
Last 16
51kg Ceire Smith (Ireland) lost to Naz Buse Cakiroglu (Turkey) 0-5
60kg Amy Broadhurst (Ireland) beat Dominika Ciklova (Czech Republic) 5-0
Q/Final
75kg Aoife O’Rourke (Ireland) beat Tetiana Petrovich (Ukraine) 5-0
August 25
Last 32
51kg Ceire Smith (Ireland) beat Krisztina Beri (Hungary) RSC2
Irish squad
51kg: Ceire Smith (Cavan/Virginia)
60kg: Amy Broadhurst (Dealgan) (Bronze)
69kg: Christina Desmond (Fr Horgan’s)
75kg: Aoife O’Rourke (Castlerea) (Gold)
Team manager: JP Kinsella
Coaches: Zaur Antia and Damian Kennedy
Physio; David Cooke