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Ireland's medal haul rises to five in Moscow

BOXING: IRELAND’S ERIC Donovan has insisted that he has no fear in meeting 2007 AIBA world featherweight champion Albert Selimov…

Thu Jun 10 2010 - 01:00

BOXING:IRELAND'S ERIC Donovan has insisted that he has no fear in meeting 2007 AIBA world featherweight champion Albert Selimov of Russia in tomorrow's lightweight semi-final at the 2010 European Championships in Moscow.

Donovan, from the St Michael’s Athy club and Holy Family Belfast dynamo Paddy Barnes both guaranteed themselves at least a bronze medal following quarter- final wins at the Ice Palace in the Russian capital yesterday.

Following last eight victories for Ken Egan, Darren O’Neill and Tyrone McCullagh, Ireland will be taking home at least five bronze medals from the 39th edition of the biennial tournament.

To put the medal-winning performances into context, before the Irish team travelled to Moscow just five Irish boxers had won medals in the continental deciders this century.

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However, in the space of 24 hours this week the Ireland 2010 squad matched that total, having guarantee themselves five podium finishes.

Barnes beat English light flyweight Thomas Stubbs 10-2 with a solid display of defensive work combined with some precise shots, sealing his second victory over Stubbs since last August.

And Donovan followed that up with an impressive 10-4 verdict over Hungarian fighter Miklos Varga in a repeat of their 2007 World Championships duel which Donovan won in Chicago.

However, 2009 world bronze medallist John Joe Nevin had to settle for a top eight finish yesterday following a surprising 7-1 reversal to English bantamweight Gamal Yafai.

Dominic O’Rourke, the president of the IABA and Irish team manager Des Donnelly hailed this week’s victories as magnificent, while Donovan reckons there’s more to come.

Meanwhile, Selimov, who has moved up from featherweight to lightweight awaits – but Donovan is no stranger to claiming the scalps of world champions.

“I’m looking forward to meeting the Russian lad. I beat the current world champion (Domenico Valentino of Italy) already this year and I have no fears about Friday’s semi-final,” said Donovan.

“I’ll get in there and I’ll do what I do best on Friday and now that I’ve won this medal the pressure will be off me and I will feel that I will perform to my very best.

“I’ll make no prediction about our semi-finals on Friday, but we’re out here to win make no mistake about it.

“We’re not out here to make up the numbers and we want to win the entire thing out and we have the talent to do it.

“It’s all about how we perform on the day. If we bring our A game to the table and we get the run of the green and we perform the way we are capable of performing then we’ll take some beating.”

Today is a rest day at the championships.

EUROPEAN SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS Moscow June 9th (Quarter Finals) 48Kg: Paddy Barnes (Irl) bt Thomas Stubbs (Eng) 8-1; 54Kg: John Joe Nevin (Irl) lost to Gamal Yafai (Eng) 1-7; 60Kg: Eric Donovan (Irl) bt Miklos Varga (Hungary) 10-4. Tomorrow: (semi-finals) 48kg: Paddy Barnes (Irl) v Jose de la Nieve Linares (Spa); 57Kg: Tyrone McCullagh (Irl) v Ian Weaver (Eng); 60Kg: Eric Donovan (Irl) v Albert Selimov (Rus); 75Kg: Darren O’Neill (Irl) v Mladen Manev (Bul); 81Kg: Ken Egan (Irl) v Abedelkader Bouhenia (Fra).