Kristian Jubani guaranteed at least a bronze medal at the Youth Olympic Games in Dakar

Kristian Jubani guaranteed Team Ireland a medal at the Youth Olympic Games in Dakar today, delivering a dominant performance to stop Iraq’s Almohaimen Takleef early in the second round of their Men’s 50kg quarter-final. The victory sends the 17-year-old through to Wednesday’s semi-finals, with both losing semi-finalists awarded bronze under the competition format. 

It was an emphatic start to a Youth Olympic campaign that had required patience from Jubani. After receiving a bye into the quarterfinals, the Crumlin Boxing Club fighter had waited a long time for his first bout since arriving in Dakar.

Dakar has been a significant focus for Jubani during a busy year of international representation. He arrived at the Games as the reigning European U19 silver medallist at 50kg, adding that result to the European U17 title he won in 2025.

With a medal at stake from his opening contest, Jubani showed little sign of either nerves or ring rust. The Irish boxer controlled the first round with his speed, movement and accurate combinations, forcing standing counts before continuing to impose himself in the second.

The pressure told early in that second round, with the contest stopped and Jubani declared the winner, securing his place in the final four and guaranteeing Team Ireland a place on the podium.

Speaking afterwards, Jubani admitted the wait to compete had been long, but said he felt immediately comfortable once he stepped into the ring.

“It was a long wait for my first competition of the Games, but I felt pretty good out there. I felt sharp and was forcing my opponent out of the way, so everything went well. I didn’t feel the pressure here today at all. I just went in and enjoyed it. I came in relaxed and in the zone.”

Boxing Team Leader and Coach, Eoin Pluck, who has guided Jubani through his preparations in Dakar, was pleased with the composure of his opening performance, particularly after such a long wait to compete.

“He put in a very good, relaxed performance. The Iraqi boxer was a very tough opponent, and we had done our homework on him from the Futures Cup earlier this year. Kristian stopped his momentum with plenty of feints and those fast single shots that he does really well.

“He saw the opportunity for a couple of fast attacks in the first round and took them, landing some really good one-twos, and then it was more of the same in the second.

“The first fight can always be a tough one, whether it’s nerves or a little bit of ring rustiness, but he looked brilliant in there today. He’s off to a brilliant start.”

The performance also continued Ireland’s strong tradition in Youth Olympic boxing. Ireland’s medal history at the Games began with Ryan Burnett winning gold at Singapore 2010, with Ciara Ginty, Michael Gallagher and Dearbhla Rooney also winning Youth Olympic boxing medals.

Jubani has spoken openly of his ambition to follow the pathway of Irish boxers from youth competition onto the senior Olympic stage, citing Dean Clancy who competed in the Youth Olympic Games in 2018, as one athlete whose footsteps he would like to follow to a senior Games.

For now, though, his attention is solely on the next challenge.

“I’m just taking one round, one fight at a time. I’m here, I’m relaxed. I’ve got big expectations, definitely. I’m always here to win. I’m not here to take part.”

Coach Pluck believes maintaining that relaxed approach will be key as the competition moves into the medal stages.

“When Kristian gets into that little bit of a rhythm, or ‘flow’ as he calls it, he’s very elusive and very relaxed, and he picks his shots with really good accuracy. On his day he’s very hard to beat. It’ll be more of the same: get into that flow, be nice and relaxed and just do what he does.”

The Men’s 50kg semi-finals take place on Wednesday 11 November, with the gold-medal bout scheduled for Thursday 12 November.

Boxing action from Dakar 2026 will can be viewed below:

Dakar 2026 Livestream

Results Day 11 – Tuesday 10 November

Boxing, Men’s 50k Quarterfinals, Kristian Jubani (Ireland) BEAT Almohaimen Takleef (Iraq) (Referee Stopped the Contest in Round 2)

Schedule Day 12 – Wednesday 11 November

13:00 Boxing, Men’s 50k Preliminaries – Kristian Jubani Ireland (Ireland) V Alan Jesus Ocampo Cano (Mexico)