Dean Clancy and Dearbhla Rooney will now fight for bronze in the men’s and women’s flyweight categories respectively following losses in today’s bouts while Miriam Daly achieved 62.15 in the women’s 400m hurdles.
Boxing:
Dean Clancy was defeated by Team GB’s Ivan Price in the men’s fly (49-52kg) semi-finals today. The Ballinacarrow native looked to dominate the first and third rounds, but the eventual win was awarded to Price in a unanimous decision, with Clancy winning the first round and Price taking the second and third.
Disappointed and surprised with the outcome, Clancy said, “I thought I dominated the whole fight to be honest. The first round I got the win, the second round I started bad, but I finished well and thought I would have got it. The third one I thought I had nicked it as well.”
Tomorrow Clancy competes in the bronze medal bout against Brazilian Luiz Gabriel Chalot de Oliviera at 17:15 Irish time.
Dearbhla Rooney was unlucky in the women’s feather (54-57kg) semi-finals to lose out to Thailand boxer Somnuek Panpatchara in a split decision. She will now face New Zealand’s Te Mania Rzeka Tai Shelford-Edmonds in the fight for bronze.
Downbeat with her result, the Manorhamilton native said, “I’m disappointed with the result, I thought I did enough there. I’ll have a look at the score after. I’m just very disappointed now. I met her in the worlds – she beat me in the prelim by a split decision, I’ll have to look over it now to see where it all went wrong. I’m not used to boxing boxers with a style like that. My style is usually the more aggressive one, pushing them back, whereas she has a very aggressive style of boxing herself, pulling forward all the time. I thought I did enough with hooks and jabbing.”
Rooney has already switched her focus to the bronze medal fight – “I’ll focus on that now. I focus on the fight. Usually in the village I try to relax and take my mind off it, and here it’s all focus and thinking about what I’m going to do in the final. I’ll be very hungry now, and there’s no way I’m going home without the bronze now.”
Athletics:
In the women’s 400m hurdles stage two Carrick-on-Suir’s Miriam Daly finished with a time of 62.25, over half a second faster than her time of 62.72 in stage one on Saturday, and just over a second off her PB of 61.32.
After the race, Daly was pleased with her performance, “I was really happy, it started off really well. I felt I was concentrating more and better. Unfortunately, I hit the last hurdle, but I’m glad I didn’t fall. I finished out the racing. I’m delighted, it was a great experience, I can’t fault it to be honest.”
The venues have been packed all week, with long queues of spectators for events all week, “The stadium was amazing, people cheering you on, I’ve loved competing. You can soak in the atmosphere, it heightens the buzz, it makes you want to race. It’s all about the atmosphere.”
Daly’s family travelled to Buenos Aires from Carrick-on-Suir to support Daly in the event, which was a bonus, “It’s so good they’ve come all this way, I really didn’t expect them to with school and work – I’m so grateful to them.”
Day eleven, the second last day of the Youth Olympic Games will see Dean Clancy and Dearbhla Rooney in action in the men’s and women’s flyweight category’s respectively each fighting for bronze medals. Tanya Watson will partake in the Mixed International event.
Team Ireland in Buenos Aires comprises of a squad of 16 athletes from 9 sports. The team of 5 male athletes and 11 female athletes includes Nhat Nguyen (Badminton) and Mona McSharry (Swimming), recipients of Olympic Solidarity Scholarships which were awarded to assist with qualification and preparations for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
This is the third edition of the Youth Olympic Games which are hosted every four years. The Games, running from October 6 to October 18 will feature more than 4,000 talented junior athletes aged 15 to 18 from 200 countries in over 32 sports.
