Team Ireland will return from the World Boxing Championships in Liverpool with three guaranteed medals, following a dramatic day of quarter-final action.

Double Olympian and four-time continental champion Aoife O’Rourke underlined her class with a 4-1 win over Norway’s Sunniva Hofstad. The judges’ cards – 30:27, 30:27, 30:27, 27:30, 30:27 – confirmed her dominance, ensuring at least a bronze.

O’Rourke, from Castlerea, will face China’s Chengyu Yang in Saturday’s semi-final.

“It’s just about taking it one fight at a time,” she told World Boxing afterwards. “I’m grateful to have gotten that medal, and we’ll push on in the next one. To be here, to be selected by Ireland, is a great honour.”

Joining her in the semi-finals is Westmeath’s Patsy Joyce, who delivered a composed performance to defeat Uzbekistan’s Mirazizbek Mirzakhalilov by split decision (28:29, 29:28, 30:27, 28:29, 27:30).

At just 19, Joyce is the youngest member of the Irish team and is now guaranteed a bronze.

“I was the underdog,” he admitted. “But age is only a number. I came here, 19 years of age, the youngest one on the team, and I’m smashing them up.” He now faces Spain’s Rafael Serrano Lozano in Saturday’s afternoon session.

Ireland’s third medal came through Offaly’s Grainne Walsh, pictured above, who edged a tense 3-2 battle with Olympic silver medallist Yang Liu of China.

The 65kg contest was finely balanced, with Walsh overcoming a second-round point deduction to progress on count-back. She will meet Kazakhstan’s Aida Abikeyeva in Friday evening’s session.

The 2025 Championships in Liverpool have brought together 540 boxers from 66 federations, making it the largest Olympic-style boxing event ever staged in the UK.

For the first time, men and women are competing for World titles at the same tournament, with 80 medals up for grabs across 20 weight classes. The field includes 17 medallists from Paris 2024 and over 30 Olympians.

Thursday is a rest day, with Walsh’s semi-final scheduled for Friday evening and both O’Rourke and Joyce in action on Saturday afternoon.

The Championships are being broadcast by Eurovision Sport.

Image Credit IABA Social Media

 

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