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Kalib Walshe and John Donoghue have guaranteed silver medals with wins in semi-final bouts at the World Boxing Under-19 Championships in Budva, Montenegro.
The Irish team have collected six medals so far, with four bronzes coming on Sunday and a possible two golds to come on Tuesday.
Walshe of Wexford CBS qualified for the men’s 60kg final with a win over Greece’s Nearchas Konstantinoudis.
Walshe fell behind after a close first round was scored to the Greek fighter, but adjusted well in the second, keeping the fight at longer range and scoring with some well-timed right hands.
Walshe received what seemed a harsh standing count in the third round and picked up the pace in the final minute to try to make up the deficit.
When the scores were read out, four of the judges felt that Walshe had done just that, and he won the bout on a 4-1 split decision, despite protests from Konstantinoudis’s coaches.
Mullingar’s Donoghue produced a fine display to defeat Armenia’s Artyom Stepanyan via split decision, guaranteeing at least a silver medal at 70kg.
The reigning European champion forced a standing count in the first round, and then controlled the action with his lead left hand in the second, setting him up well for the final round.
A point deduction for Donoghue and a better round from Stepanyan looked to have put the result in jeopardy, but the Irish fighter was on the right side of the 3-2 decision.
His brother Jason was on the wrong end of a 3-2 split decision in the 65kg semi-finals against Spain’s Pablo Souto Macias.
Olympic BC Mullingar collected a third medal, as Louise Byrne lost by unanimous decision in her semi-final to Elissandra Santos of Brazil, taking home a bronze medal at 48kg.
Kaysie Joyce from Clonmel BC won a bronze medal after being stopped in the second round of her 70kg semi-final against America’s Marley McNealy.
Dublin Docklands BC’s Jason Whelan also took bronze after a loss to Uzbekistan’s Suhrob Rakhmatullaev, where Whelan was deducted two points by the referee.