Irish Amateur Boxing Action Results From Dublin Tournament

Irish team captain Michael McDonagh and George Bates, both of the St Mary's BC in Dublin, and Stephen Broadhurst got Ireland's European Youth Championships campaign off to an unbeaten start with three wins out of three at the Citywest Convention Centre in Dublin today.

McDonagh, the current Irish Elite champ, beat fancied Russian lightweight Kristian Stepanov 12-9, McDonagh taking the third and final round after both boxers were locked at 1-1 and 5-5 after frames one and two.

Bates followed that up with a resounding 22-8 win over Bulgarian Damyan Damyanov. Bates produced a particularly good second round in this clash and was 17-7 up going into the third.

Broadhurst, of the Dealgan BC, was in action in the final bout of today's session versus Bruno Knjezevic of Croatia.

And the Dundalk middleweight never looked back from opening up a 4-2 lead in the first to complete an opening day hat-trick for Ireland at the 38-nation tournament.

Thirty six bouts were decided at today's opening session which was attended by Dr Ching-Kuo Wu, President of the International Amateur Boxing Association.

The Championships resume tomorrow with two sessions at 2pm and 7pm. Tuesday's weight-in will be held between 7am and 8am.