Women's World Championships: Barbados

mjon3105

The 6th World Championships commence in Barbados tomorrow (9th) and Ireland will be represented by not only 2 time world champion Katie Taylor but also by Ceire Smith, the young Cavan boxer, Sinead Kavanagh and Belfast's Alanna Murphy.

There are 35+ competing against Katie Taylor in the 60kg Lightweight division in Barbados as against the 10 that took part in last world championships so the competition is getting better and tougher all of the time and will become much more so for London 2012. Her main rival for London 2012, the Russian 24yrs old Sofya Ochigava is NOT taking part in Barbados (no one even at AIBA knows why) so Katie stands a very good chance of winning that 3rd in a row World Championship Gold.

Who will be her main competitors in Barbados? In my view these will include Amanda Coulson from Hartlepool (representing England), Claire Ghabrial of Australia, Adriana Araujo of Brazil, Asian Championships silver medalist North Korea’s Ryu Yong Sim (almost unknown outside her native country), Daria Abramova of Russia and Asian Champion Mavzuna Choriyeva of Tajikistan not to mention China's Cheng Dong,finalist in Ningbo City and Danuse Dilhovova of the Czech Republic. Maybe a 'surprise packet' from one of the emerging boxing nations?

Sensibly the Irish contingent arrived in Barbados on 2nd September which gave them time to acclimatise better that many of the competitors who have yet to arrive. One thing is sure and that is that the Taylors’ pre-championship planning always has been superb long before the days when she has been supported by the IABA and Irish Sports Council.


Ireland’s other competitors are mainly there for the experience gained at a World Championships – the young Ceire Smith from Cavan is one who shows great future promise (another boxer to watch out for at these games and in London 2012 is Hartlepool’s “silent assassin” Savannah Marshall respresenting England at the 69kg weight here) whilst our Sinead Kavanagh and Alanna Murphy will also learn a lot. It is good to see that 4 Irish competitors have been selected this time. Alanna and Katie are in fact old ‘friends and foes’ from the very first days of women being licensed to box in Ireland so Alanna is herself a very experienced competitor at 64kg.

Those then are my thoughts. What do others think? Who will be Katie's toughest opponents and can she make it 3 world titles in a row? Here with thanks to AIBA.org is some additional background information which helps set the scene for Barbados, the draws will take place this evening and the opening ceremony and preliminary rounds tomorrow,at the Sir Garfield Sobers Arena.

"
AIBA reports that "The biggest-ever women's boxing competition - the 6th edition of the AIBA Women's World Championships - is coming to Bridgetown, the capital of Barbados, from September 9 until September 18.


The first Women's World Championships was held in Scranton, USA, in 2001, then followed Antalya, Turkey, Podolsk, Russia, New Delhi, India and Ningbo, China as the last venue in 2008. The Women's World Championships now returns to the American continent after the first edition of the event.


Sensationally 75 nations and 306 boxers will be competing at the AIBA Women's World Championships and these numbers break every former record in women's boxing's history. This will also be the biggest boxing tournament to be held in the South Caribbean region.


Eight countries have entered with full 10-member teams in Barbados: Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, China, India, Canada, United States of America and Kazakhstan, while Australia, Kenya, Brazil, Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago, Poland, Hungary, France, Bulgaria, Germany and North Korea will be competing with large teams at the championships.


Of the total, 27 countries are from the European Confederation, 17 each from the Asian and American Confederation, 12 from the African Confederation and two from Oceania. Furthermore, 31 nations will be making their debut at the Women's World Championships.



The championships will be held under the official AIBA rules, meaning four rounds of two minutes in the new ten weight classes, including the three future Olympic divisions: 48, 51, 54, 57, 60, 64, 69, 75, 81, +81kg.


The 6th AIBA Women's World Championships will be the first global tournament since the IOC's decision last to include women's boxing in the program for the 2012 London Olympic Games."




Good Luck to the Irish team.

Mike O'Neill
London

walshb

Will be keeping a close eye on this. Thanks, Mike

As you have pointed out, the comp is getting tougher. Hopefully
Taylor, and the others, do us proud.

makl

Any recent converts from the pro ranks takin part?

mjon3105

I am not aware of any definitely who have officially converted back to Amateur status from being a pro but then so few 'Pro' women boxers are known in these islands (apart from the Americans) that it is quite possible.
THere was talk of a former Chinese champion and a current Russian world pro champion reverting to amateur status but certainly neither is appearing in these championships .

One who retired from the amateur sport at a young age, allegedly to turn pro, is Daria Abramova who is in same weight division as Katie Taylor. (Katie has defeated her in the past).

She went to Japan and was later due to turn pro. No one seems to know whether she did or not (probably not). Now she is back in the Russian squad to replace Sofya Ochigava (again we do not know why Ochigava is out of the squad for Barbados) . Here are a few extracts from a "Japan Times" article about Abramova........

"Born in October 1984 and raised about 900 km east of Moscow in the city of Ulyanovsk, Abramova first began boxing at a local gym for amateurs run by her father. Her four sisters were also athletic, she said, competing in swimming, running and karate"


"Abramova was already a prominent figure by the time she set foot in the boxing ring , with some media touting her as a "Maria Sharapova in boxing gloves."

Abramova had quit boxing while still a teen and moved to Japan when she was 21 to study Japanese and learn hair-styling. Her language ability improved in the span of two years, and she became accustomed to Japanese food, people and culture.

"When I am not boxing, I love shopping in Shibuya, Harajuku and Shinjuku, looking for clothes and cosmetics," she said.

Abramova said she is grateful to be compared with the statuesque Sharapova, admitting that a career in modeling or acting is "very tempting."
.


... and this from her then trainer:-

.
"There is a new dimension to my job, which is to stay alert during practices and drive away all the male boxers trying to flirt with Daria. They seem to be having a difficult time concentrating on boxing with this beautiful girl around," Warita laughed.

So I am sure that there will be a lot of attention paid to Ms Abramova in Bridgetown

mjon3105

courtesy of IABA.ie#s Bernard O'Neill:

Katie Taylor has been drawn against Neetu Chahal of India in the preliminary rounds of the 6th AIBA Women's World Championships in Barbados.

The Bray woman, who is targeting her third World 60Kg title on the trot, meets Chahal in the last 32 at the Garfield Sobers Gymnasium in Bridgetown on Saturday.

Taylor's Irish team-mates, Cavan flyweight Ceire Smith, Belfast light-welterweight Allana Murphy and Dublin middleweight Sinead Kavanagh have been handed tricky draws at the Championships.

Smith meets Nilmini Jayasinghe of Sri Lanka in the preliminaries on Friday, while Murphy, who received a bye into the last 16, is facing the toughest task of the lot, a four-rounder against current World champ Gulsum Tatar of Turkey in the light-welterweight category.

Kavanagh will trade leather with Wided Younsi of Tunisia in the 75Kg category on Friday.


mjon3105adds:
"Gulsum Tatar has of course beaten Katie Taylor ,when she was a Lightweight albeit in controversial circumstances and is the current world champion at light welterweight.Alanna will do very very well if she manages to last the distance though she is a tough fighter who always gives of her best.

Wided Younsi of Tunisia is also ranked no 1 in her division and indeed in some profiles is shown as a former world professional champion though I have seen nothing "official" that would prove that. In any event she is vastly more experienced than Sinead .Another tough one there for the Irish competitor.

Jayasinghe, one of the two well known Sri Lankan ladies competing in Barbados, is also a highy experienced boxer who only in 2009 won the Gold medal at the St Petersburg tournament in Russia so it will be a 'baptism of fire' for young Ceire Smith on Friday.But theexperience will stand her in very good stead for the future.


Neetu Chalal of India is a 21yrs old from Hariba Club and is a 'star of the future' but it will be a major surprise if she has anything but a very torrid time against Katie Taylor.

More as the days go by...
Mike

mjon3105

No Irish in action today but some excellent performances tonight from Karolina Michalczuk of Poland in the 54kg division with a 12-2 win against Oxana Koroleva of Kazakhstan. A really good win too for Lynsey Holdaway,representing Wales.

The Abercanaid 25-year-old who now trains under Stuart Trowbridge in Llantrisant ABC, ,had a comprehensive win over the more experienced Canadian Jacqueline Park in the 48kg premilinary round. India's 4 times world champion M-C Mary Kom is in that group this time round and favourite..
Ayse Tas of Turkey had to fight hard all the way to stave off Lauren Fisher of USA as the 8-7 scoreline in the Turkish girl's favour suggests.

Defeat meanwhile for England's Sharon Holford of the Aspire club - she went down 11-10 to Leiryn Flores of Venezuela in an extremely close finish but had left herself with just too much to do in that last round.

Later tonight, England representative, Amanda Coulson from the Hartlepool Catholic Club takes to the ring against Mavzuna Chorayeva, the up and coming young 17 years old Asian championship bronze medallist from Tajikstan.

Amanda is well known to Irish fans having fought Katie Taylor in Dublin and later in Dungarvan during an Ireland v England international contest. Coulson, one of the 'pioneers' of womens boxing in England is perhaps a surprise choice here as most English pundits expected Natasha Jonas of Liverpool to represent England but during a recent tournament on the Greek island of Crete, Coulson emerged with the Gold medal defeating Stephanie Walker of Canada convincingly in the final.

Could Coulson and Taylor renew their 'old rivalry' in Barbados? Only time will tell.More tomorrow when hopefully some encouraging Irish news to report.


Mike O'Neill/London/9Sept.

.

mjon3105

makl wrote: »

Any recent converts from the pro ranks takin part?

Makl:

Worth having a look at this article from the website of "RT Russia Today TV"

http://rt.com/Top_News/2009-08-20/female-boxers-pin-hopes.html

Ragozina is the Russian I mentioned earlier though I can't see the AIBA. allowing her (or any other Professional) reverting to Amateur status for the London Games; if they do then she is almost certainly a Gold medal winner.


Mike

mjon3105

Here is an overnight summary from the AIBA of the second session on the opening day:-


"
In the second session of AIBA Women's World Championship boxing at the Garfield Sobers Sports Complex in Bridgetown Barbados today, Team USA made good the earlier defeats of the afternoon with a clear victory by US National Champion Queen Underwood.


Underwood, from Seattle, clearly signaled her presence as a contender for the lightweight title by beating Ecuador's Karina Mamarandy in a one-sided contest. Mamarandy received a standing eight count after only 30 seconds of the first round had elapsed and the referee stopped the contest before the end of that round. Underwood will face Asian Champion Mavzuna Chorieva in the next round after Chorieva disposed of England's Amanda Coulson 8:5.


Reigning European bantamweight champion Svetlana Gnevanova of Russia easily overcame Poland's Pekalska Ewelina 9:1 to advance to the next round on her quest to add the world lightweight title to her belt.


Karin Dost notched up a second victory for New Zealand after going through to the next round on a victory by individual scores against Vietnam's Thi Ngo when the contest ended 6:6 after the regulation eight minutes. Earlier in the afternoon, Siona Fernandez had beaten Jeymi Gomez of the Dominican Republic in the bantamweight opener.


Jenny Bennedict received a rapturous welcome from the home crowd when she opened the lightweight contest for Barbados. But her bout against the Ukraine's Oleksandra Sydorenko came to a very early end when the referee stopped the contest in the first round. The 18-year-old Barbadian was simply overwhelmed by a barrage of punches from the more experienced Sydorenko, 26.


Australia's Clare Ghabrial, 2010 Oceanic Champion, remains in contention after the referee stopped her contest against Heidy Franco of Panama when the score was an emphatic 12:1 in her favour.

mjon3105

Tonight sees Cavan's Ceire Smith in action against Nimini Jayasinghe representing Sri Lanka. Latter is a highly experienced international.In early hours of the morning (Irish time), Sinead Kavanagh meets with Turkey's Widey Younsi of Tunisia, a seasoned campaigner opponent 4-0 earlier this .It would be a major - albeit pleasant - surprise if the Tunisian did not win tonight.

Latest news is that Russia who entered Daria Abramova for the 60kg lightweight event have replaced her with an 18 years old, Anastasia Belyakova, a former European Junior champion and who recently won the Nikolaev Cup 60kg event defeating Ukraine's Oleksandra Sidorenko 7-5 in a closely fought encounter .

Russia's team captain Sofya Ochigava misses this competition due to a serious cruciate ligament injury sustained in Ukraine - hence the much looked forward to rematch with Katie Taylor is a "non starter" this time.

Mike O'Neill
London

makl

mjon3105 wrote: »

Makl:

Worth having a look at this article from the website of "RT Russia Today TV"

http://rt.com/Top_News/2009-08-20/female-boxers-pin-hopes.html

Ragozina is the Russian I mentioned earlier though I can't see the AIBA. allowing her (or any other Professional) reverting to Amateur status for the London Games; if they do then she is almost certainly a Gold medal winner.


Mike

Thanks Mike. Can't remember where i came across it, but as far as I remember the article said that as women's boxin is new to olympics, pro athletes would be allowed to revert to amateur status as presumably they never could have accounted for olympic prospects in their decision to join the pro ranks.

she's fought at between 75 and 78 so presumably she'd sit in to light heavy unless wanted to push for 81.

anyway neither here nor there now she ain't involved here.

nice one for all updates

mjon3105

Young Ceire Rose Smith from Cavan BC, only 18, has just lost her fight against the champion of Sri Lanka, Nilimi Jayasinghe by 14-1 at the Garfield Sobers Centre in Bridgetown. Smith had qualified for Barbados by defeating the more experienced Debbie Kearney Rogers of Bray BC at the National Stadium in August.

She will have gained valuable lessons tonight but as the round by round scores show she was well beaten by a much more experienced opponent.
Round scores were:
5-1 3-0 4-0 2-0

Sinead Kavanagh fights in the early hours of Saturday morning (Irish time) against the vastly more experienced,former champion, Widey Younsi of Tunisia.

Mike O'Neill

mjon3105

Bernard O'Neill, IABA P.R.O reports that there was double dissapointment for Ireland at the 6th AIBA World Women's Championships in Barbados following preliminary round defeats for Ceire Smith and Sinead Kavanagh.

Cavan flyweight Smith, at 17 the youngest member of the four-strong Irish squad, was beaten 14-1 by Nilmini Jayasinghe of Sri Lanka despite a spirited performance at the Garfield Sobers Gym in Bridgetown.

And Dublin middleweight Kavanagh lost out 14-6 to Wided Younsi of Tunisia.

Younsi was 5-2 up at the end of the first but Kavanagh bravely fought back to level affairs at 6-6 before the conclusion of frame two.

However, the Tunisian kept Kavanagh scoreless whilst adding another eight points to her total in the final two rounds.

Katie Taylor, who is targeting her third World 60Kg title on the trot, meets Neetu Chahal of India in the last 32 tonight.

The last 32-bout should go ahead between 1am and 2am Sunday morning Irish time

Belfast light-welterweight Allana Murphy will be in action against reigning World champion Gulsum Tatar of Turkey on Monday.

The clash is a repeat of last month's European Union meeting which Tatar won 4-0.

Women's senior bouts are contested over four, two minute rounds.

mjon3105

The second day at the AIBA Women's World Championships at the Garfield Sobers Sports Complex in Barbados saw action in the flyweight, light welterweight, welterweight and middleweight divisions. A strong showing by the American team produced victories in each of these four weight divisions, rivalled only by China, who qualified three boxers for the final 32.


As the new Olympic division, the 51kg flyweight category is the most popular of the competition, with some 50 boxers competing for the title. Two of those are reigning World Champions, China's Ren Cancan, who has moved down from 52kg and North Korea's Kim Hyang Ok, who took the title at 50kg in 2008. Both easily advanced to the next round today. China's solid run for the day continued with a close 8:7 victory for Asian Champion Yang Tingting over France's Gihade Lagmiry in the welterweight division and a win for World Champion Li Jinzi at middleweight. She dismissed Romania's Paraschiva Fetti 11:4.


The opening bout of the day saw another victory for the training camp when El Salvador's Yajaira Pena overcame Switzerland's Tsering Tashi 5:1 in the flyweight division to book her place in the final 32.


Sri Lanka's success story at the tournament continued with a clear 14:1 win for Nilmini Jayashinghe - another "Road to Barbados" training camp graduate - over Ireland's Ceire Smith. She found the bout easy, but may think differently of her next contest, since she faces 2008 World Champion Ren Cancan.


"I thought it would be a hard fight," she said, "because I've heard of Katie Taylor and Ireland is a strong boxing nation. But it was easy."


Algeria's Chirfi Naziha and Bulgaria's Stoyka Petrova will have to wait until Sunday for their taste of competition. They will face each other in the round of 32 after they both won their bouts by walkover today.


Hotly tipped Laishram Devi of India also remains in contention after beating Russia's Aleksandra Kuleshova 11:8 in one of the afternoon's most thrilling encounters.


Strong action in the first light welterweight bouts put the USA's Cashmere Jackson and the Ukraine's Svitlana Tertychna through before the first round was over. Jackson's bout against India's Pratibha Jakhar was stopped by the referee in the first round, while Tertychna pulled a spectacular punch out of nowhere to floor Kelly Woolrich of New Zealand in the first round when the score was actually 4:1 in the Kiwi's favour.


Team GB's training plan paid off with Rebecca Price from Wales and Chantelle Cameron from England both advancing to meet each other in the final 32 on Sunday.

In the opening bout of the evening session, Germany's Andrea Strohmayer reversed her welterweight contest against India's Kavita in the dying seconds of the final round to win 7:4. "I got some more motivation and decided to give it everything," said the 27-year-old from Augsburg. "The knock down did give me an extra boost as well."


Kiwi Dawn Chalmers caused one of the day's upsets by eliminating the European Union Champion Bianka Nagy of Hungary. "It's good to represent the Kiwi and show them what we're made of. Twenty-two days of full-on training has made a tremendous difference in getting us prepared for the tournament," said the Road to Barbados participant.


The USA's Tiffanie Hearn denied New Zealand a second victory of the day and made it four out of four for the American team. Hearn beat Magan Maka by a close 7:6 to add to victories by Marlen Esparza at flyweight, Cashmere Jackson at light welterweight and Andrecia Wasson at welterweight. Wasson eliminated Canada's PanAmerican Champion Kandi Wyatt by a decisive 17:3.

mjon3105

Ireland's best hope for a Gold medal, Katie Taylor is expected to meet 21 years old Indian, Neetu Chahal (born 04May 1989) between 1 and 2 a.m (Irish time) Sunday and despite the success of other Indian boxers notably M.C Mary Kom, it will be a major surprise if Katie does not get through to the last 16. Not that the Taylors are taking anything for granted :

"India are a strong boxing nation and nothing can be taken for granted against them," Peter Taylor says. . "We'll be treating every opponent out here with the utmost respect."

Neetu Chahal comes from Bhiwani in Haryana State , the city boasting a population of over 170,000. Better known as the "City of Temples" Bhiwani is also famed for its boxing academy,which was established by the late Capt Hawa Singh, 11 times a National champion and twice holder of an Asian Games Gold. Indeed at the 2008 Beijing Olympics 4 of the 5 competitors that represented India came from Bhiwani, among them bronze medallist Vijender Kumar (75kg). So Ms Neetu Chahal comes from a boxing stronghold.

Neetu in fact was Indian champion in 2008 at 66kg but when she moved to the 60kg class a year later only won bronze at the 10th Indian women's championships .With only 3 women's events in London 2012 she is but one of many who will have moved from one weight to another. How good is she? Well that remains to be seen and if she can overcome Katie Taylor then she would cause one of the biggest upsets of this or any Women's World Championships.


Mike O'Neill

mjon3105

Katie Taylor scored a convincing 11-2 win over India's Neetu Chahal to reach the last 8 in the early hours of this (Sunday) morning. Round by round scores:

6:0
2:1
3:1
1:0

A convincing win then for Katie.
A possible future opponent Anastasia Belyakova defeated Meryem Aslan of Turkey 11-6 which included an 8-0 first round. In the next round Katie meet's Brazilian and PanAmerican champion Adriana Arauj0.
Victory also tonight for Lynsey Holdaway of Wales 4-3 against Valeria Calabrese of Italy in the 51 kgs whilst Taylor's "old foes" Danuse Dilhofova and Olexandra Sydorenko have also qualified for last 16 places

Mike O'Neill
London
Sunday

mjon3105

The third day of competition in the AIBA Women's World Championships saw the legendary Katie Taylor of Ireland in the ring for the first time in the hotly contested lightweight category. Even though her main rival,Sofya Ochigava, is not in the competition, today's action showed that there are plenty of other serious contenders for the lightweight medals in Barbados.


Another legend in women's boxing, Mary Kom from India, easily cleared the next hurdle on her quest for a fourth world title at the Garfield Sobers Sports Complex today. Proving that the move up to 48kg has been a mere formality, she dispatched Australia's Jenny Smith before the end of the first round; the referee stopped the contest when the score was already 9:0 in Mary Kom's favor.


After a close 4:3 victory over Italy's Valeria Calabrese, Lynsey Holdaway vowed to put Wales on the map in the quarter-finals. Unfazed by the prospect of meeting Mary Kom in her next bout and still buzzing from the adrenaline of her win, the 25 year-old from Merthyr Tydfil was sitting in the front row of the athlete's seating deconstructing the bout with her Welsh team-mates Ashley Brace and Rebecca Price shortly after her victory.


"Road to Barbados" training camp star Anusha Kodithuwakku from Sri Lanka notched up a second consecutive victory today, edging past China's Luo Jiaoling 7:5 to book her place in the quarter-finals, much to the delight of her training camp colleagues. An in-form Alice Aparri will be her opponent on Wednesday after she beat Russia's Svetlana Gnevanova 8:3.


Big-scoring bouts put Romania's Steluta Duta (17:8) and Kazakhstan's Nazgul Boranbayeva (11:2) through to the next round, while Asian Champion Kim Myong Sim from North Korea had to work hard for her 6:3 victory over France's Sarah Ourahmoune to book the last quarter-final spot at light flyweight.


Lorna Weaver is an unlikely name for a French boxer and a post-bout interview revealed why. Weaver was born in France of English parents who later returned to England. But the 27-year-old decided to stay in her adopted homeland, where she boxes out of the Boxing Beats Aubervilliers club. She switched from French to Mancunian-accented English just as easily as she trod the canvas on her 17:4 victory over Pamela Sanchez of Costa Rica in the bantamweight division today.


Greece's Evgenia Tasidou put everything she had learned from the Road to Barbados training camp into practice perfectly today to beat Australia's Kelly McGrath 12:9. She will face Hungary's Csilla Nemedi-Varga in one of two all-European quarter-finals in this division.



Reigning European and World Champion Karolina Michalczuk from Poland eased into the quarter-final on the back of a clear 14:2 victory over Venezuela's Leiryn Flores. She faces Turkey's Ayse Tas in the next round in the second all-European affair. Tas beat Brazil's Clelia Dacosta 8:1, although her coach - dismissed in the fourth round - was unable to join in the ringside post-bout celebration.


The audience needed to watch closely if they wanted to see any jabs from Katie Taylor tonight. She showed a canny patience to simply wait for the right moment and launch devastating combinations against India's Neetu. A vicious right hook in the first round could almost have sealed the contest, but Neetu managed to hold out for the full eight minutes.


The 12:2 final result did not reflect the intensity of the competition. "I wouldn't say it was easy," Taylor said. "She was very awkward. The first bout of the tournament is always the hardest, just to get into the tournament. We have come over with four boxers. It makes it easier when I have someone to talk to and it's great that they could come along. Women's boxing is coming on really well in Ireland."


Taylor will face multiple PanAmerican Champion Adriana Araujo from Brazil in the last 16 . A knock-down in the second round against Leeann Boodram put an early end to the bout when the referee stopped the contest with the score at 15:1 in Araujo's favor.


Kenya's Nganga Muthoni had an emphatic victory over Grenada's Chloe Toussaint with the referee stopping the bout before Toussaint had the chance to land a scoring punch. It was the second lightweight victory for Africa today after Morocco's Mahjouba Oubtil succeeded in another shut-out, eliminating Georgia's Marika Khorava by an impressive 16:0.


Saving the best until last, Queen Underwood of the USA and Road to Barbados training camp graduate Mavzuna Chorieva of Tajikistan put on a thrilling display in the evening's final bout. Sensing the electric atmosphere the referee tried to intervene as little as possible as the boxers tussled but drew the line at a bizarre chest-bumping incident in the second round that earned both boxers a penalty. The score was 6:6 at the end of the eight minutes and an agonizing single point difference on the individual scores handed Underwood the victory, leaving Chorieva in floods of tears at missing out on the quarter-final.
(Source: AIBA.)


After the fight Taylor commented:-

""I was delighted to get this bout out of the way" , said Taylor. "She was a really tall and awkward opponent. It's great to get the first win and the Irish crowd here tonight were fantastic and I would like
to thank them for their support. I'm facing another tough one on Monday and all my focus is on that now."

mjon3105

News just in from Barbados.

Tunisian boxer Wided Younsi has been suspended and disqualified from the 6th AIBA Women's World Championships, which are currently being held in Barbados.

Younsi confessed that she had participated in a professional boxing match, but signed a written statement to confirm that the Tunisia boxing federation had not been aware of this.

Her victory over Ireland's Sinead Kavanagh at 75kg in the first round is therefore annulled, which means that Drimnagh-based Kavanagh, the Irish National Champion, will now face China's Li Jinzi in Wednesday's quarter-final.

Source: AIBA.org

mjon3105

The fourth day of the AIBA Women's World Championships saw action in the flyweight, featherweight and light heavyweight divisions at the Garfield Sobers Sports Complex in Bridgetown, Barbados. In the flyweight division, China's Ren Cancan made it through to the final 16 to keep her hopes for a second world title alive.

Due to boxers changing weight category ahead of the all-important London 2012 Olympic Games, where women's boxing will feature for the first time ever, there were two reigning World Champions competing in the 51kg division. While China's Ren made light work of Sri Lanka's Nilmini Jayasinghe, with a knock-down in the third round helping her to an 11:3 victory, North Korea's Kim Hyang Ok was upset by Marlen Esparza of the USA. This is the third World Championships for the 21-year-old from Houston, Texas (she took bronze in New Delhi in 2006 but was eliminated in the preliminaries in Ningbo 2008) but this time she approached things differently.

"A lot of times my nerves failed me. But this time I said just forget it, what's going to happen, is she just going to become World Champion again? So I just went for it and boxed like I usually box. Sometimes when I come to internationals I don't box the same. But this time I stuck with it and did what I was supposed to do two years ago."

Turkey's Sumeyra Yazici surprised India's Laishram Devi with a 12:8 victory and will face the formidable Ren in the next round. England's Nicola Adams, silver medalist at Ningbo in 2008, also remains in contention after beating Marielle Hansen from Norway.

Guatemala's Rosa Garcia Giron was the second training camp graduate to miss out on a place in the next round by the most slender of margins. Her bout finished with the scores tied at 8:8 but her opponent, Olga Hadji from Moldova, edged it on the individual scores. The East European contest between Lidia Ion of Romania and Stoyka Petrova of Bulgaria also ended in a draw, with Petrova winning out.

There was plenty of crowd-pleasing action in the featherweight contests. Turkey's Nagehan Gul easily dismiised Jamila Jones of Trinidad and Tobago, inflicting two standing eight counts on her Caribbean opponent in the first and final rounds. A penalty in the second round added to Jones's woes and the final score stood at 18:3 in the Turk's favor.

Local hero Gheta Narine entered the arena to a rapturous welcome but approached her bout against North Korea's Yun Kum Ju too impetuously. The Bajan took two mandatory counts in the first round, was then warned for hitting Yun in the back of the head. A repeat of the same offence in the second round was too much for the referee, who disqualified Narine in the second round.

Wales's Ashley Brace kept up the excitement with a comprehensive victory over Guyana's Vanessa Robinson. Her bout was adjudicated RSCH in the second round when Brace was leading 20:1.

Far from celebrating her victory, Brace was already analyzing the bout with her coach as soon as she stepped out of the ring. "I was throwing the left hooks to the body but couldn't come back with the rights because I was too close," she said. "This was probably down to nerves."

Triple PanAmerican Champion Taynna Cardoso from Brazil eased through to the final 16 on the back of a 9:5 victory over Natalia Biriuk of the Ukraine. She will meet Sweden's Helena Falk in the next round. The 31-year-old Swede is among the older participants in the competition and already has a career spanning 16 years, although a World Championship podium finish has so far eluded her. Today she beat Jody-Ann Weller of the USA 14:3 to make the final 16.

"I'm always nervous for the first bout," she said. "We got warned because we were too loud, but that's how to hit harder. You have to make some noise. I didn't know anything about her [Weller] so I am just happy to win my fight."

Little-known Marina Volnova achieved the exploit of the day by outclassing Canada's Melinda Watpool 12:9 in her opening bout of the light heavyweight division. The upsets continued as strong favorite Maria Yavorskaya was eliminated by Turkey's Selma Yagci 11:8. In the quarter-final on Wednesday, Yagci will meet Roseli Feitosa after the Brazilian beat Kenya's Muhatia Mediatri comprehensively by 22:2.

To conclude the succession of routs in the light heavyweight contests, Timea Nagy of Hungary hammered Tyler Lord-Wilder of the USA 15:3 to advance to the quarter-final, where she will face reigning European Youth Champion Lidia Fidura from Poland, who beat the Ukraine's Inna Shevchenko 9:6.

mjon3105

Katie Taylor 'cruised' to a magnificent 20:5 victory over PanAmerican champion, Adriana Araujo of Brazil in Bridgetown a short time ago. Round by round scores indicate the extent of Taylor's dominance against the strong, agressive Brazilian:

5:1
6:1
5:2
4:1
====
20:5

Other winners in this 60kg division early this evening include Norway's Ingrid Egner who beat Majouba Oubtil, the Moroccan champion 12:8 after a tough fight; Poland's ever improving Karolina Graczyk an 18:3 victor over Jina Park of South Korea and the 17 years old Russian Anastasia Belyakova who scored a 12:7 win over Ukraine's Oleksandra Sydorenko..

Danuse Dilhovova defeated Mercedes Picacs of Hungary 5:0, Bulgaria's Denitsa Eliseeva won a 5:2 verdict against Puerto Rican champion Kiria Tapia. The USA representative Quantita Lee (better known as Queen) Underwood had a convincing 8:0 verdict against Thailand's Supaporn Seeondee whilst in a bout just ended Cheng Dong, the Chinese who lost the 2008 Ningbo City final against Taylor has gone through to the quarter final courtesy of a very easy 15:0 win against Muthoni Nganga of Kenya.

Allana Murphy suffered a heavy defeat 21:4 against World Champion Gulsum Tatar of Turkey but despite the victory margin, Murphy fought a gallant fight right to the final bell. Sinead Kavanagh will be in the ring late tonight also against a very much more experienced opponent.


Mike O'Neill/London

mjon3105

Quarter Finals - 60 kg - will take place Wednesday 15th - commencing 1600 local Barbados - (2100hrs Irish time)

Ingrid Egner (Norway) v Karolina Graczyk (Poland)
Danuse Dilhofova (Czech Republic) v Cheng Dong (China)
Katie Taylor (Ireland) v Anastasia Belyakova (USSR)
Denitsa Elkiseeva (Bulgaria) v Queen Underwood (USA)


Mike O'Neill

walshb

Mike, thanks for the updates. It seems that RTE and others aren't covering this too much. Taylor well enroute to gold.

mjon3105

from iaba.ie this morning:


"
Katie Taylor progressed to the quarter-finals of the 6th AIBA World Championships with an impressive win over Adriana Araujo of Brazil in Barbados last night.

But Allana Murphy and Sinead Kavanagh bowed out following last-16 reversals to Turkey and China at the Garfield Sobers Sports Complex in Bridgetown.

Taylor, who is aiming for her third World title in a row, dominated en route to beating Araujo 20-5.

The 24-year old Bray woman will now meet Anastasia Belyakova of Russia in Wednesday's quarter-final just one bout away from claiming at least bronze - and three bouts away from an historic hat-trick of World titles.

Meantime, Murphy, of the Eastside BC in Belfast, was beaten 21-4 by reigning AIBA World light-welterweight champion Gulsom Tatar of Turkey.

Murphy produced a fine first round and moved to within two points of Tatar early in the second but the Turk pulled away from that point on to book her ticket into the last eight.



Katie Taylor
Kavanagh, who boxes out of the Drimnagh BC in Dublin, was reinistated in the tournament on Sunday after her last-32 opponent, Wided Younsi of Tunisia, admitted that she had once boxed professionally, a confession which led to her disqualification and suspension.

Consequently, Kavanagh met Chinese middleweight Ll Jinzi in the early hours of this morning. The Drimnagh middleweight found herself 6-2 down at the end of the second round of this 75Kg clash - Jinzi claimed the first frame 2-0 - but scored the only point of the third to reduce the deficit to three points.

However, Jinzi registered the only points of the fourth and final round to advance to the last eight.


6th AIBA World Women's Championships Results/Draw
(local times apply)

September 10th
51Kg: Ceire Smith (Ireland) lost to Nilmini Jayasinghe (Sri Lanka) 1-14 (Last 64)
75Kg: Sinead Kavanagh (Ireland) v Wided Younsi (Tunisia) (Result annulled) (Last 32)

September 11th
60Kg: Katie Taylor (Ireland) beat Neetu Chahal (India) 12-2 (Last 32)

September 13th
60Kg: Katie Taylor (Ireland) beat Adriana Araujo (Brazil) 20-5 (Last 16)
64Kg: Allana Murphy (Ireland) lost to Gulsum Tatar (Turkey) 4-21 (Last 16)
75Kg: Sinead Kavanagh (Ireland) lost to Ll Jinzi (China) 3-9 (Last 16)

September 15th (Quarter -finals)
60Kg: Katie Taylor (Ireland) v Anastasia Belyakova (Russia) (afternoon session)


Irish squad 6th AIBA World Women's Championships Barbados September 6th/19th
Team Manager: Stephen Connolly
Director of Boxing: Dominic O'Rourke
Coaches: Peter Taylor & Zuar Antia
Referee&Judge: Fionna Hennigan
51Kg (Flyweight) Ceire Smith (Cavan BC)
60Kg (Lightweight) Katie Taylor (Bray BC)
64Kg (Light-welterweight) Allana Murphy (Eastside, Belfast)
75Kg (Middleweight) Sinead Kavanagh (Drimnagh)

mjon3105

The fifth day of the AIBA Women's World Championships saw further action in the lightweight, light welterweight, welterweight and middleweight divisions at the Garfield Sobers Sports Complex in Bridgetown, Barbados. Katie Taylor remains the strong favourite at lightweight after her 20:5 demolition of multiple Pan-American champion Adriana Araujo of Brazil. But Team USA continued to surprise, winning three of its four bouts today.

Katie Taylor's main rival for the lightweight title, Russia's Sofya Ochigava, is absent from the tournament with an injured knee. Her replacement, the17-year-old Anastasia Belyakova, dismissed the Ukraine's Oleksandra Sydorenko 12:7 today to book a quarter-final place against the Irish legend.

Queen Underwood is a worthy challenger for Katie Taylor. After shutting out Thailand's Supaporn Srisondee 8:0 she will need to beat Bulgaria's Denitsa Eliseeva to make it through to the semi-final. Of the three bouts Underwood has fought so far, her draw against the favorite Mavzuna Chorieva is the only one in which her opponent has been able to score.

The Czech Republic's Danulse Dilhofova and China's Dong Cheng both shut out their opponents to secure quarter-final berths against each other, while the remaining slot goes to Norway's Ingrid Egner and Poland's Karolina Graczyk.

Gulsum Tatar of Turkey is World Champion, European Champion and European Union Champion. It's therefore little surprise that she beat Ireland's less experienced Allana Murphy 21:4 in the light welterweight contest. She remains a clear favorite to take the light welterweight title but will face tougher opposition in the quarter-final against the Asian Champion, Saida Khassenova from Kazakhstan. Khassenova beat local girl Molissa Narine 13:0 but the home crowd were nevertheless delighted to see one of their boxers go the full distance against such tough opposition.

Cashmere Jackson continued Team USA's excellent run at the tournament by eliminating China's Yang Qinqin, who was a silver medalist at this year's Asian Championships. She made her intentions clear after the bout. "I'm just trying to bring as many championships as possible home to my country. We need gold medals." Jackson will face North Korea's Ri Suk Yong in the quarter-final. Ri eliminated this year's Nikolayev Cup winner Svitlana Tertychna of the Ukraine 14:0.

Relentless one-two-three combinations from Russia's Vera Slugina helped her to an impressive 19:3 victory over Poland's Oliwia Luczak. The 25-year-old from Nizhniy-Tagil will face England's Chantelle Cameron in the quarter-final. Cameron's home nation duel against Rebecca Price from Wales was an evenly matched affair. Both boxers are almost identical in height and weren't prepared to give anything away. Price came out with a strong attack in the third round, but Cameron held out with strong blocking to take a close 7:5 victory.


Turkey's Nurcan Goksel is still looking for a taste of competition in Barbados. She was awarded a bye in the first round and today won against Panama's Lourdes Borbua by walkover. Borbua had been training with AIBA's Road to Barbados program but fractured her wrist on the last day of training and was unable to compete. Goksel's first real boxing in the tournament will therefore be against Marichelle Jong of the Netherlands in Wednesday's quarter-final.

The home crowd was ecstatic to see one of their boxers land some scoring punches when Kimberly Gittens went one up in the early stages against Lotte Lien in the welterweight contest. But by the third round she was taking some severe punishment, including two standing eight counts and looked unsteady on her feet. Shortly afterwards the referee stopped the contest, awarding the victory in Lien's favor. Lien will face Savannah Marshall in the quarter-final after the Englishwoman disposed of Poland's Sroczynska 17:2.

The US onslaught continued with a victory for Andrecia Wasson over Russia's Svetlana Kosova. Both boxers took a while to get into their stride, with no score at the end of the first round and Wasson 1:0 up at the end of the second. The 18-year-old from Detroit then pulled away to finish 4:1 ahead at the end of the third and close the bout with a 5:2 victory.

In the middleweight division, 75kg World Champion Li Jinzi of China remains on course to defend her title, as does the EU Women's Champion Maria Kovacs from Hungary. Li beat Ireland's Sinead Kavanagh, who took the place of Tunisia's Wided Younsi after she was disqualified for having participated in a professional boxing match.

Training camp graduate Gulzat Musabaeva of Kyrgyzstan suffered at the hands of Turkey's Elif Guneri and the bout was adjudicated RSC. The USA then suffered a rare defeat when the Netherlands' Nouchka Fontijn overwhelmed Tiffanie Hearn 14:4.

Canada's Mary Spencer beat 2005 World Champion Anna Laurell of Sweden 9:2 to set herself up against Spain's Tamara Garcia in the quarter-final, while Germany's Ulrike Bruckner defeated Desislava Lazarova 3:1 to book the berth against Liliya Durnyeva, who closed the day's action with an emphatic 12:0 win over Russia's Inna Sagaydakovskaya.

mjon3105

The remaining quarter-final places were decided at the Garfield Sobers Sports Complex in Bridgetown, Barbados, today as flyweight and featherweight boxers tussled on the last day of the preliminary stages of the competition.


Finland's Hanne Maekinen turned 28 today and celebrated her birthday in style with a clear 7:1 victory over Italy's Terry Gordini in the flyweight division.


"It was very difficult and she was very strong, but I managed to find my tactics," said the birthday girl, who boxes out of the Järvenpään Kehäkarhut club.


Maekinen will face the 2010 Oceania Champion Shannon O'Connell from Australia in tomorrow's quarter-final. O'Connell beat Mexico's Mariana Caballero 13:10 in the opening bout of the afternoon.


England's Nicola Adams was in no hurry to get to the ring for her contest against Virginie Nave from France. But the 2008 World Championship silver medalist from Leeds was in no hurry to leave the competition either, cruising to an easy 8:2 victory to book her place in the quarter-final against Korea's Jang Eu Na, who beat Vivien Mizsei of Hungary 7:5.


Argentina's Yanina Benavidez took the honor of landing the most scoring punches in any bout of the competition so far. She was 33:2 up when the referee stopped her contest against training camp graduate Olga Hadji from Moldova in the final round.
Benavidez will face the 2010 Nikolayev Women's Cup winner Tetyana Kob from the Ukraine. Kob dismissed the EU Women's Champion Stoyka Petrova from Bulgaria 13:7.


Ren Cancan's world championship campaign continued with a 9:4 victory over Turkey's Sumeyra Yazici today but strong contender Marlen Esparza of the USA had to bow out of the competition. A warning against her opponent, Peamwla Laopeam from Thailand, for head-butting at the end of the third round drew the scores level, but Laopeam recovered to win out 5:3 at the closing bell to set up a quarter-final meeting with Ren.


In a second success for Thailand, Tassamalee Thongjan outclassed India's Pavitra 10:0 in the featherweight division to book a quarter-final place against Brazil's Taynna Cardoso, who beat Sweden's Helena Falk 7:3 today.


Asian featherweight champion Yun Kum Ju made easy work of her bout against Nagehan Gul from Turkey. She will face Poland's Sandra Kruk in tomorrow's quarter-final. Kruk dismissed Ashley Brace from Wales 17:7.


German national champion and EU Championships bronze medalist Maike Klueners and South Africa-born Alexis Pritchard from New Zealand had a thrilling contest. Pritchard, a 26 year-old sports science and physiotherapy student, was unable to make the most of her superior 176 cm frame and Klueners edged ahead to win 10:8.


"I didn't realize I was so far behind but I knew that I had more in me," Klueners said. "I managed to bring it out because I know I'm on top form. I had to find my legs but I had great guys in my corner helping me on. They were telling me that my stance was wrong because she had the distance and had long arms. So I looked for the infight and that's where I made up the points."


Tunisia's Rim Jouini drove her team-mates in the stands into a frenzy as she stormed to a 12:5 win over Kazakhstan's Dina Zholaman. "I was a bit nervous," she said "but in the end I had the courage to raise the Tunisian flag." Jouini will face Germany's Klueners in tomorrow's quarter-final.


China's Yang Yanzi allowed opponent Reyna Cotija from Mexico only one scoring punch in their contest, racing ahead to book her quarter-final place with a 12:1 victory. She will face Italy's Marzia Davide, who eliminated Russia's 2010 Nikolayev Cup winner Victoria Gurkovich 9:3 in the day's final bout.


A total of 34 different nations now go through to the quarter-final stages, with China and Turkey clear favorites, having qualified 7 and 6 boxers respectively. Russia, Poland, Hungary, Kazakhstan, North Korea and the United States have all put four boxers through; Ukraine, Romania, England, Germany, India three and Bulgaria, Norway, Netherlands, Philippines, Thailand, Brazil and Australia two. In Europe, France, Sweden, Greece, Wales, the Czech Republic, Ireland, Spain, Finland and Italy have all put one boxer through, as have Sri Lanka, South Korea, Canada, Argentina and Tunisia as the sole representative from the African continent.

Block G Raptor

What Time is Katie Fighting tonight? is there a live stream anywhere

mjon3105

Time is difficult to predict but my "best guess" is between 1045pm and 11.30pm Irish time.
Not aware of any "Live Streaming" though others may be.
There was a suggestion that the semi finals/finals may be shown via a live stream but even that is now unlikely I understand... shame... but...

Mike

Rob113

You'd think rte would have some sort of coverage of this. Katie is going for her 3rd straight world championship ffs. That kind of achievement will probably never be repeated again. Am I wrong in thinking that the amateur males get a lot more coverage.

mjon3105

You are right - but then she is used to lack of coverage within Ireland save for the occasional appearance on a Pro-Am tournament. India's Mary Kom who beat the Welsh champion Lynsey Holdaway tonight in the quarter final of the 45-48 kg classification is going for her 5th title...

News of the Taylor fight within next 30 mins or so I guess...

Mike

Seillejet

The rte site has nothing at the moment, which is a real shame. Cant find any streams of the bout either.

It would be a fantastic achievement for Katie, something for the media to concentrate on, instead of to its inane obsession with Cowens drinking habits.

mjon3105

Comprehensive victory for Katie Taylor 16:1 a few minutes ago in Barbados. More later

Mike

Seillejet

http://www.rte.ie/sport/boxing/2010/0915/taylork.html