Aoife O’Rourke secures second silver for Ireland at European U22s
Aoife O’Rourke made it two silver medals in twenty minutes for Ireland at the European U22 Championships in Targu Jiu this evening.
Louth lightweight Amy Broadhurst had no sooner left the ring following her domination of Belinda Limuka when O’Rourke entered for her semi-final in the opposite ring.
The Roscommon middleweight had been given a bye to the semi-finals in Romania, assuring her of a bronze medal without throwing a punch, and she made sure to upgrade this medal to silver with an impressive performance.
O’Rourke was stronger and fitter than Italian Carlotta Paoletti – who won the light heavyweight Senior title in her country recently – scoring well early and boxing clever to claim a dominant unanimous decision win.
The Castlerea puncher will now box for gold alongside Broadhurst on Sunday and faces a huge test when she goes up against Turk Busenaz Surmeneli.
An outstanding fighter, she was crowned World Champion at both Youth and Junior level as well as picking up a further three European gold medals (x2 Youth, x1 Junior), and an EU Junior silver. Since moving into the adult ranks, Surmeneli has won the Turkish title with three straight knockouts and claimed silver in the EU Championships.
Earlier today, Galway’s Gabriel Dossen bowed out at the middleweight quarter-final stage on a tight split-decision.
March 25th
Last 16
51kg Niamh Earley (Ireland) lost to Aikaterini Koutsogeorgo (Greece) 0-5
57kg Shauna Blaney (Ireland) lost to Nedkova Ivanova (Bulgaria) 1-4
March 26th
Last 16
52kg Conor Quinn (Ireland) lost to Maksim Stakheev (Russia) 1-4
Last 32
91kg Kevin Sheehy (Ireland) lost to Felix Kuhne (Germany) 0-5
March 27th
Last 16
75kg Gabriel Dossen (Ireland) beat Hambardum Hakobya (Armenia) 4-1
56kg Jordan Moore (Ireland) lost to Eusebi Jitaru (Romania) 0-5
March 28th
Q/Finals
48kg Shannon Sweeney (Ireland) lost to Mari-Emi Todorova (Bulgaria) 0-5
60kg Amy Broadhurst (Ireland) beat Esra Yildiz (Turkey) 5-0
March 29th
Q/Finals
75kg Gabriel Dossen (Ireland) lost to Giorge Kharabadze (Georgia) split
S/Finals
60kg Amy Broadhurst (Ireland) beat Belinda Limuka (France) 5-0
75kg Aoife O’Rourke (Ireland) beat Carlotta Paoletti (Italy) 5-0
April 1st
Finals
60kg Amy Broadhurst (Ireland) v Francesca Martusciello (Italy)
75kg Aoife O’Rourke (Ireland) v Busenaz Surmeneli (Turkey)
