{"id":138385,"date":"2025-09-12T19:17:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T19:17:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/138385\/"},"modified":"2025-09-12T19:17:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T19:17:07","slug":"grainne-walsh-takes-world-boxing-championships-bronze-after-semi-final-defeat-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/138385\/","title":{"rendered":"Gr\u00e1inne Walsh takes World Boxing Championships bronze after semi-final defeat \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall b-it-article-body__text--left\">Gr\u00e1inne Walsh claimed a bronze medal at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/world-boxing-championships\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/world-boxing-championships\/\">World Boxing Championships<\/a> in Liverpool after losing by unanimous decision in the 65kg semi-finals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The contest was close but a definitive second round performance by Kazakhstan\u2019s Aida Abikeyeva was crucial to her 5-0 victory.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Both fighters came into the bout having secured fine quarter-final victories, with Walsh defeating 2024\u2019s Olympic silver medallist Liu Yang and Abikeyeva overcoming former World and Olympic champion Busenaz Surmeneli.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall b-it-article-body__text--left\">Walsh boxed effectively on the front foot in the opening round, with Abikeyeva trying to keep things at long range with a stiff left jab and counter right shots.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The Offaly boxer landed good punches in combination, as well as looping overhands that unsettled the former Asian champion, but three judges favoured the Kazakh\u2019s work in the opener.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Not to be deterred, Walsh stuck to her plan in the second round, trying to push her opponent back to the ropes and land blows to the body and head.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall b-it-article-body__text--left\">As the round went on though, it was Abikeyeva who caught the eye with straight shots that knocked Walsh\u2019s head back, with all five judges favoured her work in the second.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">That left the Irish fighter with an almost insurmountable task. Despite landing some heavy shots over the final three minutes, she could not make up the difference. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall b-it-article-body__text--left\">Although two judges voted for Walsh in the final round,  the final decision was unanimous; 5-0 for Abikeyeva. The Kazakh fighter will fight for a gold medal on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall b-it-article-body__text--left\">Kazakhstan have had an outstanding tournament , guaranteeing eight medals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall b-it-article-body__text--left\">Walsh\u2019s bronze represents the best finish of her amateur career, having previously qualified for the Paris Olympics and winning a bronze at the European Games in 2019.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Saturday sees two more Irish boxers take to the ring in Liverpool for semi-finals, both already guaranteed bronze medals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">In the 75kg class, Lisa O\u2019Rourke takes on former World champion and 2024 Asian Championships winner Lina Wang of China (1.15pm).<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall b-it-article-body__text--left\">The Castlerea fighter has previously won European gold  on four occasions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Mullingar boxer Patsy Joyce is also back in action after beating former World champion Mirazizbek Mirzakhalilov of Uzbekistan in the quarter-finals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The 19-year-old, who beat Olympic bronze medallist Javier Ibanez Diaz in the round of 16, will face Spain\u2019s Rafael Lozano Serrano at 2.15pm.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Both finals are set for Sunday, with the men\u2019s 55kg gold medal fight scheduled for 12.45pm and the women\u2019s 75kg at 1.30pm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gr\u00e1inne Walsh claimed a bronze medal at the World Boxing Championships in Liverpool after losing by unanimous decision&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":138386,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,94966,85,63432],"class_list":{"0":"post-138385","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-boxing","11":"tag-grainne-walsh","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-world-boxing-championships"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138385\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}