MEDAL UPGRADE – Siofra Lawless Will GO FOR GOLD on Saturday
Siofra Lawless will go for World Youth Championship gold on Saturday.
The Queen of Four Kings traded in her bronze for silver at the very least with another brilliant display in Budva on Thursday.
The teen talent defeated Aruzhan Zhangabayeva by unanimous decision to reach the 63kg final.
The Wicklow fighter had to manage a tricky first round and an aggressive opponent but was able the match the Kazach for fight and trumped her for flair.
The World Junior Champion will now look to become the first Irish boxer since Katie Taylor to win back-to-back world gold when she contests the decider on Saturday, albeit at a different grade.
Adam Olanyian and Kayla Doyle will look to join Lawless as Team Ireland representatives on Finals Day when they compete in separate semis later in the day.
After a brief feeling-out period, a fight broke out. The Kazch went for the volume and pressure approach and enjoyed some success. However, for the most part, the Wicklow native was able to land clean eye-catching shots and jolted back the head of her opponent regularly.
It was a real what-you-like session and three of the five scoring judges preferred the work of the Irish half of the semi-final.
Some clean right hands scored by Lawless knocked some of the ambition out of Zhangabayeva in the first half of the second round, although the red-corner fighter did come strong in the second half of the session.
Zhangabayeva tried to make it scrap but the Four Kings boxer was able to the pressure and picked some beautiful combinations remaining calm amid the storm.
As a result, she took the round across the board and put one foot in the final.
She brought her second foot into the decider with a brilliant last round.
By now Lawless had found her range and was walking her foe onto clean shots. First straight shots did the damage before an upper left hook combo started to rattle the white head guard of the red corner opponent.
Team Ireland
60kg Kayleigh Whelan, Avona BC, Dublin
63kg Siofra Lawless, Four Kings BC, Wicklow
66kg Kyla Doyle Byrne, Whitechurch BC Dublin
57kg Jamie Graham, Clonard BC, Belfast
60kg Martin McDonagh, Avona BC, Dublin
63.5kg Ryan Jenkins, Olympic BC Mullingar
71kg Tadhg O’Donnell, Four Kings BC, Wicklow
92+kg Adam Olaniyan, Jobstown BC, Dublin
Team Manager: Anna Moore
Coach Liam Cunningham
Coach Garry Kehoe
Coach Ralph McKa