Olympic champion Kellie Harrington, World champion Amy Broadhurst and European silver medallist Tina Desmond will all contest gold medal fights at the prestigious Strandja Memorial tournament in Sofia tomorrow (Sunday).
he trio all won their respective semi-finals this afternoon courtesy of unanimous 5-0 decisions.
Arguably the most important win was achieved by Broadhurst, her third on the spin in her new welterweight weight division. The performances suggest she was recovered from her loss in the Irish elite final.
Having beaten the 2022 welterweight World silver medallist Charlie Cavanagh in the quarter final Broadhurst beat China’s Lui Yang, a former World silver medallist at light middleweight to guarantee herself a silver medal.
Olympic champion Kellie Harrington opted to compete in the non-Olympic light welterweight category. A gold medallist at last year’s tournament – which is often classed as an unofficial world championships – she beat France’s Fatia Benmessahel in the semi-final. It was Harrington’s first contest in Sofia.
Like Harrington, Tina Desmond, a silver medallist at the European championships last year, also received a bye into the last four of her weight division. In the light middleweight semi-final she beat Shruite Yadan from India.
There was no joy, however for Waterford light heavyweight Kelyn Cassidy who was unlucky to lose his semi-final to Hamborozum Hakobyan from Armenia on 4-1 decision.
Though he was forced to take a standing count in the second round the fight was still level on three of the judges' cards.
Cassidy appeared to land the clearer shots in the final stanza but all but one of the judges give the round to his opponent. So, Cassidy must be content with a bronze medal.