Aoife O’Rourke has claimed a keynote title on her Road to Paris, by winning the 75th Strandja Memorial Tournament middleweight gold.
261 boxers from 28 federations contested the tournament, hosted in Sofia by the Bulgarian Boxing Federation. Algeria, Armenia, Austria, Bulgaria, China, France, Georgia, Greece, Guatemala, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Moldova, Mongolia, Morocco, Nigeria, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Tajikistan, Thailand, Tukey, Turkey and Uzbekistan all fielded teams.
The middleweight, of Castlerea BC, Aoife meet Thailand’s Baison Manikon in bout 4 of Ring A’s Afternoon session. A Tokyo Olympian at welterweight, the southpaw is the reigning Asian U22 champion. Most recently Manikon contested the Asian Games against eventual winner, Lovlina Boroghain, whom Aoife bested at the Quarter Final stage of this tournament.
Aoife’s power, stamina and experience saw her through the bout, in which Manikon gave a good account of herself. None of the rounds was awarded by all judges to either boxer. The final score was 3-2, to the Tokoyo and Paris Olympian.
Aoife was, after the women’s finals were completed, named 1st runner up Best Female Boxer – Bulgaria was in first place and China in third.
Heavyweight, Jack Marley, was today bestowed with his bronze medal, following his semi final against Greece’s Vagkan Nanitzanian. He’s pictured here with Head Coach Zauri Antia.
Team
50kg Shannon Sweeney, St. Anne’s BC, Mayo*
54kg Niamh Fay, Phoenix of Ballyboughal BC, Dublin
57kg Michaela Walsh, Holy Family GG, Belfast
66kg Lisa O’Rourke, Castlerea BC, Roscommon
75kg Aoife O’Rourke, Castlerea BC, Roscommon
51kg Rickey Nesbitt, Holy Family BC, Drogheda
57kg Adam Hession, Monivea BC, Galway
63.5kg Dean Clancy, Sean McDermott BC, Leitrim
71kg Eugene McKeever, Holy Family, Drogheda
92kg Jack Marley, Monkstown BC, Dublin
92+kg Martin McDonagh, Crumlin, Dublin.
Draws are available here
Day One: Team Ireland didn’t box.
Day Two results are here
Day Three results are here
Day Four results are here
Day Five results are here
