Aoife O’Rourke guaranteed silver medal at World Boxing Championships
Aoife O'Rourke, pictured here with her coaching team, will box for a gold medal at the World Boxing Championships in Serbia on Sunday. Picture: INPHO/Aleksandar Djorovic
Castlerea boxer, Aoife O'Rourke, has guaranteed herself at least a silver medal for Ireland at this year’s World Boxing Championships after winning her semi-final bout in Serbia on Friday afternoon.
The double-Olympian and four-time Continental champion defeated European bronze medalist Nikolina Gajic from Serbia on an unanimous decision, meaning she will box for a gold medal in the 75kg middleweight division on Sunday.
The 27-year-old got to work early, being effective off her left hand and was the more accurate boxer to take the opening round in the eyes of three of the five judges.
O’Rourke remained busy in the second round, moving to another level that Gajic couldn’t live with.
After O’Rourke landed a number of powerful punches, the Serbian was penalised for excessive holding and subsequently suffered a standing count to leave O’Rourke in a dominant position on the scoreboard.
Gajic couldn’t live with O’Rourke’s energy and suffered another standing count in the third round as O’Rourke comfortably qualified for Sunday’s final.
Aoife's sister, Lisa, will hope to join her in the finals when she takes on Natalya Bogdanova from Kazakhstan in her last four bout in the 70kg division on Friday evening at approximately 7.15 p.m..
