Joe Ward’s two young sons, pictured above with their dad and Irish staff, have another major medal to add to their collection
Ireland’s five-strong squad arrived home from the World Elite Championships in Hamburg, Germany this afternoon via Dublin Airport.
Irish captain Joe Ward claimed silver at the tournament,his third successive medal at this level since Kazakhstan 2013.
Ireland finished in 9th spot in the medals table in Hamburg.Cuba topped the table after winning five titles.
In another boost for Irish male boxing, Ireland, courtesy of Ward’s appearance in his second successive World decider, leapfrogged England and Thailand from 25th place into joint 22nd place with Poland in the all-time World medals table.
Irish squad in Hamburg
Irish male boxing has now claimed 1 gold, 3 silver and 9 bronze since the inaugural World Championships in Havana in 1974.
Irish female boxing is lying in 9th spot in the all-time table, courtesy of five gold medals and one bronze for Katie Taylor and silver for Kellie Harrington.
Ward also picked up 800 ranking points in Hamburg.Ireland and France were the only western European nations to make the finals.
Ward, Brendan Irvine, Kurt Walker, Sean McComb and Dean Gardiner represented Ireland at the 19th edition of the tournament after qualifying through June’s European Championships in the Ukraine.
Ireland won five bouts and lost five bouts in Germany.
The 2019 World Men’s Championships, which will be held in Russia, will probably be one of the major qualifiers for Tokyo 2020.
World Elite Championships Hamburg, Germany
August 25th
(Last 32)
56kg Kurt Walker (Ireland) lost to Leonel De Los Santos (Dominican Republic) 1-4
64kg Sean McComb (Ireland) beat Joedison De Jesus (Brazil) 4-1
August 26th
(Last 32)
91kg+ Dean Gardiner (Ireland) beat Hyeon Do Kim (Korea) 5-0
August 27th
(Last 16)
64kg Sean McComb (Ireland) lost to Andy Cruz-Gomez (Cuba) 0-5
August 28th
(Last 16)
52kg Brendan Irvine (Ireland) lost to Inkyu Kim (Korea) 0-5
81kg Joe Ward (Ireland) beat Iago Kizira (Georgia) 5-0
91kg+ Dean Gardiner (Ireland) lost to Cristian Salcedo (Columbia) 2-3
August 29th
Q/Final
81kg Joe Ward (Ireland) beat Mikhail Dauhaliavets (Belarus) 5-0
September 1st
S/Finals
81kg Joe Ward (Ireland) beat Bektimer Melikuziev (Uzbekistan) 3-2
September 2nd
Final
81kg Joe Ward (Ireland) lost to Julio La Cruz (Cuba) 0-5
Irish squad
52kg Brendan Irvine (St Paul’s)
56kg Kurt Walker (Canal)
64kg Sean McComb (Holy Trinity)
81kg Joe Ward (Moate) cpt (Silver)
91+kg Dean Gardiner (Clonmel)
Team manager/High-Performance Director: Bernard Dunne
Coaches: Zaur Antia, John Conlan and Dmitry Dimitruc
Doctor: Jim Clover
Physio: Seamus Caffrey
Performance Analysis: Alan Swanton