Henry and Doyle-Byrne secure Euro bronze

Two Irish boxers are assured of bronze medals at least at the European Youth Championships in Porec, Croatia, writes SEÁN McGOLDRICK.

Highly-rated Coolock boxer Ava Henry (right) of the Dublin Docklands club, who has already won a European schools silver medal and a European junior gold, made it a hat-trick when she dropped and then stopped a Hungarian opponent in the second round of their 63kg quarter-final.

In the welterweight division, Kyla Doyle-Byrne (Whitechurch) also secured a place in the semi-finals. She had an anxious wait for the verdict as she had been docked two points for illegal use of her forearm during the contest against a Turkish opponent.

The Dublin fighter dominated the contest, winning rounds two and three on 10-8 scorecards which enabled her to take the fight 4-1 despite the deductions.

The other two Irish fighters in action, Tadhg O’Donnell (71kg) and Ryan Jenkins (63.5kg), also advanced to the next round.

Meanwhile, the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) has formally excluded the International Boxing Association (IBA) as a member. The decision was taken at the general assembly of the ASOIF in Birmingham yesterday.

The move follows the decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to dismiss IBA’s appeal against the decision of the International Olympic Committee to expel IBA and withdraw their recognition as the international federation for Olympic boxing.

In a statement the IBA said the decision was “profoundly disappointing.”