Not the colour he wanted, but boxer O’Reilly takes bronze

Harley-David O’Reilly ’s first Commonwealth Games boxing experience ended one day too soon for his liking.

At least the Gatineau fighter was rewarded with a bronze medal when he left the ring at Gold Coast, Australia, but what he really wanted was the gold in the men’s 81-kilogram class.

O’Reilly was assured of a bronze after winning his quarter-final match in a walkover earlier in the week. That lifted his confidence and sharpened his focus to go for the gold.

“I feel like a football player with the touchdown pass in my hands and it slips through my fingers,” O’Reilly said. “I have no excuses. It was a great bout. It’s all on me. I need to improve, get back to the gym and focus.”

O’Reilly’s next major goal will be to qualify for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo. At 29, turning professional isn’t on his horizon.

Samoa’s Ato Plodzicki-Faoagali, a 19-year-old student in Australia, scored a 4-1 decision over O’Reilly in their three-round semifinal. Two judges had Plodzicki-Faoagali winning all three rounds, while one judge felt O’Reilly took all three. The other two judges favoured Plodzicki-Faoagali two rounds to one.

“It was really close,” added O’Reilly, who only started boxing at age 24 after several years in kickboxing and Muay Thai. “I made a little mistake with my footing under me. I lost my balance. I lost a bit there and gave him an advantage some rounds.

“But I landed some clean shots. I was really happy with my performance. If two judges had given me one more round, I’d be in the final.”

Meanwhile, the Canadian women’s basketball team is to play for bronze Saturday against New Zealand after losing 65-53 to England in a semifinal on Friday.

Carleton University’s Catherine Traer of Chelsea scored two points on free throws while adding two assists and one steal. Ottawa’s Merissah Russell, of Capital Courts Academy, had 50 seconds of floor time.

Fifth-seeded Samantha Cornett of Dunrobin and Nikki Todd of Regina lost to third-seeded Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal Karthik of India in women’s squash doubles quarter-finals.

Natasha Watcham-Roy of Gatineau started the second of two women’s rugby sevens games as Canada beat South Africa 29-0 and Kenya 24-12 in preliminary round robin action.

In athletics, the Canadian men’s 4x100-metre relay team was disqualified in the heats. Bismark Boateng of Toronto and Segun Makinde of Ottawa failed to complete a handoff inside the exchange area.