Gatineau boxer guaranteed medal with semifinal bout
Gatineau’s Harley-David O’Reilly won a medal at the Commonwealth Games in Australia on Wednesday, and he didn’t need to break a sweat or throw a punch to do it.
When Cameroon’s Ulrich Rodrigue Yombo failed to attend the weigh-in ceremony for their men’s 81-kilogram quarter-final match, O’Reilly was declared the winner by a walkover and given a free ticket to the medal round.
The colour of O’Reilly’s medal won’t be determined until he fights one or maybe two more bouts in the competition at Gold Coast.
O’Reilly, a 29-year-old who didn’t start boxing until age 25, will face 19-year-old Ato Plodzicki-Faoagali of Samoa in a semifinal on Friday.
If O’Reilly wins that match, he’ll face the winner of the other semi between Sammy Lee of Wales and Clay Waterman of Australia for the gold or silver medal. Losers of the semifinals will receive bronze medals.
In his round-of-16 bout earlier, O’Reilly scored a unanimous 30-27 decision over Louis Cedric Olivier of Mauritius.
While O’Reilly, the 2017 Canadian champion, entered the boxing ring at an age when some are exiting the sport, he is familiar with combative sports after practising martial arts, such as kick-boxing and Muay Thai, for several years.
In women’s doubles squash, fifth-seeded Samantha Cornett of Dunrobin and Nikki Todd of Regina defeated Samantha Hemmings and Marlene West of Cayman Islands 11-6, 11-5, giving them second place in their pool in the preliminary round and a spot in the quarter-finals on Friday.
Meanwhile, Gatineau’s Alexis Lepage returned to Canada to complete academic assignments and prepare for final exams at Université Laval after finishing 13th in the men’s sprint triathlon. It was a courageous finish given that Lepage badly bruised his left foot after sliding his bike into a fence early in the 20-kilometre cycling portion in rainy conditions.
“When I finished, even if my foot was painful, I had to smile that I did it,” Lepage said after labouring through a five-kilometre run. “It was a long process to get to the Commonwealth Games. I’m happy I finished.”