Steven Donnelly in action in Rio.
Uzbekistan pipped Cuba at the post to command top position in the medals table on the final day of action at Rio 2016 yesterday.
Shakhobidin Zoirov, who beat Brendan Irvine in the preliminaries, and Fazliddin Gaibnazarov struck double gold on Sunday for the Uzbeks to add to Hasanboy Dusmatov’s top of the podium finish.
Dusmatov, who was edged out in his first attempt to qualify for Rio through the World Series of Boxing by Paddy Barnes, also scooped the Val Barker Best Boxer of the Games Award.
Claressa Shields of the USA won the first Val Barker Award for women after claiming her second Olympic gold in the middleweight class.
Boxing2016 – Rio2016 Olympic Games Tournament Statistics
Barnes topped the WSB table with Dusmatov finishing second with just one Olympic spot was up for grabs. However, Dusmatov bounced back from that reversal to book a Rio ticket through the Asian qualifiers.
Uzbekistan, Cuba, France, Kazakhstan, Russia and Great Britain (joint 5th), in that order, finished in the top five positions in the medals table at Rio 2016.
Rio caps an incredible 12 months for Uzbekistan who claimed nine medals in the Asian Championships and six at the 2015 World Elite Championships in Qatar. 22,000 athletes are registered to box with the Uzbek Federation. Uzbekistan has a population of 31.5m.
The Irish Athletic Boxing Association congratulates Uzbekistan on its incredible achievements.
Meantime, 65 of the 273 bouts – 23.8% – at Rio 2016 finished on split decisions.Four of those splits went against Ireland and one for.
Likewise, in almost a quarter of the bouts at the 31st Olympiad one R&J had a diametrically opposed view to his/her colleagues under 10-point must scoring, although with the world’s top boxers trading leather for Olympic glory some fights will always go down to the wire.
Team Ireland are scheduled to arrive home from Rio on Wednesday next, August 24th, at 17.10 to Terminal One, Dublin Airport on Flight LH 980.
The Team Ireland squad will include athletes from boxing, sailing, hockey and other sports.
Irish Results Rio Olympics
August 7th (last 32)
60kg David Oliver Joyce (Ireland) beat Andrique Allisop (Seychelles) 3-0
69kg Steven Donnelly (Ireland) beat Zahir Kedache (Algeria) 3-0
August 8th (last 16)
49kg Paddy Barnes (Ireland) lost to Samuel Carmona (Spain) 1-2
August 9th (last 16)
60kg David Oliver Joyce (Ireland) lost to Albert Selimov (Azerbaijan) 0-3
August 10th (last 16)
81kg Joe Ward (Ireland) lost to Carlos Andreas Mina (Ecuador) 1-2
August 11th (last 16)
69kg Steven Donnelly (Ireland) beat Tuvshinbat Byamba (Mongolia) 2-1
August 12th (last 16)
75kg Michael O’Reilly (Ireland) lost to Uziel Rodriquez (Mexico) W/O
August 13th (last 32)
52kg Brendan Irvine (Ireland) lost to Shakhobidin Zoirov (Uzbekistan) 0-3
Q/Final
69kg Steven Donnelly (Ireland) lost to Mohammed Rabii (Morocco) 1-2
August 14th (last 16)
56kg Michael Conlan (Ireland) beat Aram Avagyan (Armenia) 3-0
August 15th (Q/Final)
60kg Katie Taylor (Ireland) lost to Mira Potkonen (Finland) 1-2
August 16th (Q/Final)
56kg Michael Conlan (Ireland) “lost to” Vladimir Nikitin (Russia) 0-3
Irish squad
Women
60kg (Lightweight) – Katie Taylor (Bray)
Men
49kg (Light-flyweight) – Paddy Barnes (Holy Family)
52kg (Flyweight) – Brendan Irvine (St Paul’s)
56kg (Bantamweight) – Michael Conlan (Clonard)
60kg (Lightweight) – David Oliver Joyce (St Michael’s Athy & AIBA Pro Boxing)
69kg (Welterweight) – Steven Donnelly (All Saints)
75kg (Middleweight) – Michael O’Reilly (Portlaoise)
81kg (Light-heavyweight) – Joe Ward (Moate & AIBA Pro Boxing)
Team Manager: Joe Hennigan
Coaches: Zaur Antia, Eddie Bolger, John Conlan
Physio: Julianne Ryan
Sport Psychologist: Gerry Hussey
Doctor: Jim Clover
(B)