HISTORY – Lisa and Aoife O’Rourke Secure World Championships Silver at Least
Lisa O’Rourke and Aoife O’Rourke have made boxing history by becoming the first sisters to win through to contest a World Championship final in the same tournament.
Both sisters, from Tarmon Co. Roscommon, contested their semi-finals on Friday and won.
Aoife O’Rourke, who boxes at 75kg, was between the ropes first. The double Olympian and 4-time continental champion met home boxer, Serbia’s Nikolina Gajic. The older o the two boxing siblings was dominant from the off, and her physicality won out – giving standing counts in the second and third round. The referee also had a low tolerance for holding, and deducted a point from Gajic following cautions in the second round. The decision was unanimous. Speaking O’Rourke said “I’m absolutely delighted. Can’t believe it. Delighted and grateful to be in this position heading in to the finals….I knew that the coaches would have a good plan in place and if I could implement it, it would work. Thankfully, it did!”
Younger sister Lisa O’Rourke, a 2022 World Champion, followed her sibling into the final. The Rosscomon footballer contested against Kazakhstan’s Natalya Bogdanov and came out the right side of a very tangled, testy bout marked by holding. O’Rourke lost the first round, but battled throughout to gain dominace. There was a very tense wait for the decision, as it went to a bout review. The judges had scored the bout a 3-2 split in the Kazakh boxer’s favour – 29:28; 27:30; 28:29; 29:28; 28:29. However, both Bout Review officials felt the Irish boxer won, and so the decision went to her 4:3. Speaking after she said “Tough battle. Definitely. The Kazakh, in the first round, she really put me a few steps behind. I dug deep and listened to the coaches and, thankfully, got through the second round and finished it off in the third”.
Team Ireland Head Coach, Zauri Antia, reflected on the silver medal winners performances, and looks towards Sunday’s finals:
In all, 239 boxers from 51 federations are contesting this tournament; in 2023, the last iteration of these championships, 324 boxers from 64 federations competed.
The finals line-up is now complete: Kazakhstan and Russia, with 5 boxers apiece, have the joint highest number of finalists. Both entered full squads of 12 boxers in to the tournament. Turkey, which also entered a full squad, has 4 finalists. Ireland, China and Thailand have 2 finalists each. Ireland entered 8 boxers, China 12 and Thailand 4. Korea (6), Morocco (7), Serbia (12) and Uzbekistan (12) all have one finalist.
March 15th is a rest day at the tournament, and all finals will be boxed on Sunday, March 16th
Watch
Boxing will begin at 5pm, Irish time. Contests will be boxed in weight order, interspersed with medal ceremonies. The finals programme is available here
IBA will be streaming the finals on its YouTube channel, and the link will be published closer to the first bell on Sunday.
Team Ireland
48kg Carleigh Irving, Oakleaf Boxing Club, Derry
50kg Daina Moorehouse, Enniskerry Boxing Club, Wicklow
54kg Jenny Lehane, DCU Athletic Boxing Club, Dublin
57kg Michaela Walsh, Holy Family GG, Belfast
66kg Grainne Walsh, St. Mary’s BC Tallaght, Dublin
70kg Lisa O’Rourke, Castlerea BC, Roscommon
75kg Aoife O’Rourke, Castlerea BC, Roscommon
81+kg Judy Bobbett, Liberty Boxing Club, Wicklow.
Team Manager, Ciara Plunkett
Head Coach Zauri Antia
Coach Damian Kennedy
Coach Eoin Pluck
Physiotherapist Rob Tuomey.
