Dearbhla Rooney qualified for the Women’s Feather (54-57kg) semi-finals after a dominant win over Roma Linda Martinez from the USA. Manorhamilton’s Rooney had not met the American fighter previously and was relieved to progress to the next round.
Speaking after her fight she said, “I’m absolutely delighted with it. I was happy with how I fought so first fight is always tough, you want to get it out of the way and get warmed up for the next one.”
She hadn’t fought the American fighter before and saw her as a dark horse before the fight, but the Irish featherweight had nothing to worry about, moving through to the semis with a unanimous victory.
In the next round Rooney will face Panpatchara Somnuek from Thailand, the boxer who forced her out of the World Youth Championships earlier this year in a split decision, and the Sean McDermott boxer will be looking to reverse that fortune this time around. Rooney will compete again on the 16th October, along with Dean Clancy who will compete in the Fly (49-54kg) semi-finals.
Youth Olympic silver medallist Niamh Coyne arrived home this morning along with teammate Robbie Powell.
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.
