THE finals of this year’s IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships will see Ireland’s O’Rourke sisters take on two formidable Russians.
With the two Irish amateur stars guaranteeing themselves silver medals, it has already been a strong recovery from what was a nightmare start for their decorated fighting nation.
But now, after becoming the only boxers from their eight-strong team to reach the quarterfinals, the pair have an opportunity to further enhance their careers.
Aoife O’Rourke was first to cement her place in tomorrow’s middleweight bout after producing a punishing performance to outpoint home fighter Nikolina Gajic here in Niš, Serbia.
Two standing counts widened the margin of the Serbian’s unanimous decision defeat but, in any case, she was never even presented with a foothold in their one-sided fight.
That was because O’Rourke simply did not allow it, with her front foot pressure constantly suffocating the distance between them.
Not only that, but the two-time Olympian’s engine proved far too relentless for Gajic who, knowing she was well and truly bested by an elite technician, could only lick her wounds once the final bell rang.
A more scrappy affair then saw Lisa O’Rourke edge a split decision against Kazakh light-middleweight Natalia Bogdanova.
After finding herself trailing behind on all five judges’ scorecards, O’Rourke entered the second round with a more assertive approach, catching her opponent cleanly with a thundering right hand to narrow the score.
But while the 22-year-old maintained her output down the stretch, there was still a lengthy moment of tension before the scorecards were revealed.
That feeling of anxiety then instantly transferred into euphoria, though, with a bout review – an intriguing invention where two extra officials are summoned to select a winner – swinging the result 4-3 in O’Rourke’s favour.
Now, both Aoife and Lisa are gearing up to face Anastasia Shamonova and Elena Gapeshina respectively, setting up what promises to be a compelling evening of gold medal bouts.
Turkey suffers controversial defeat
Paulie Malignaggi once suggested that judges should each sit closer to the ring, making their heads a prime target for any fighter to put their laces through.
That, of course, could never be considered a sensible idea. Yet still, there are times when the often unfathomable nature of boxing makes it difficult to argue with the former world champion.
In any case, his outlandish suggestion may have crossed the mind of Turkey’s Esra Kahraman, who lost a highly contentious unanimous decision to home fighter Andela Brankovic yesterday.
Through six minutes of their semifinal bout, it could be said that Kahraman had done enough to build a comfortable lead on the judges’ scorecards.
The second round, in particular, saw the Olympic bronze medallist dish out a monstrous onslaught, filled with plenty of moments when the referee could have quite easily issued a standing count against her opponent.
But instead, the featherweight was forced to enter her final three minutes at this year’s tournament trailing two rounds behind on all five judges’ scorecards.
Despite knowing that she had an almighty deficit to claw back, Kahraman nonetheless went for the jugular and, rather astonishingly, managed to convince four officials that she had, in fact, done enough to claim the consolation points.
But the result, which should have, at the very least, been a razor thin split decision, ultimately turned out to deliver a confusingly wide margin, with all five judges blissfully sending Serbia’s Brankovic into tomorrow’s final.
Unsurprisingly, members of the Turkish Boxing Federation – which has now joined World Boxing, a rival organisation to the IBA – were quick to voice their dissenting thoughts.
But regardless, Brankovic’s somewhat laboured performance has guaranteed her a silver medal.
Big wins for Morocco and Turkey
The afternoon session saw Moroccan featherweight Widad Bertal progress to the final after emerging from her thrilling encounter against Serbia’s Sara Cirkovic with a split decision victory.
Despite losing the first two rounds, the dark horse of this year’s tournament produced a terrific display in the final three minutes.
A bout review then swung the result 4-3 in the away fighter’s favour and, as one would expect, pure elation had firmly taken control over Bertal in the aftermath of what was perhaps her career-best win.
A far more dominant performance was then put on by Turkish welterweight Busenaz Surmeneli, who proved exactly why she is a sizable favourite to win the competition.
The Olympic gold medallist danced rings around Serbia’s Anastasija Lukajic from the opening bell, controlling both the range and pace of their one-sided affair.
As a result, Surmeneli’s performance turned out to be arguably the most comprehensive of yesterday’s two sessions, with the 26-year-old catapulting herself into tomorrow’s final after claiming a wide unanimous decision victory.
