Aoife O’Rourke won Ireland’s second gold medal at the Strandja Cup in Bulgaria as she emulated Kellie Harrington’s performance on Saturday afternoon.
Ireland will take home double gold from the prestigious tournament in Sofia as the Tokyo Olympians put in flawless displays ahead of May’s World Championships in Istanbul.
Harrington took a unanimous decision over Serbia’s Natalia Shadrina in the lightweight (60kg) division in her first tournament since taking gold at the Tokyo Olympics in July.
Roscommon middleweight (75kg) O’Rourke scored a unanimous victory on the scorecards as she dismantled Panama’s Atheyna Bylon over three rounds.
The Castelrea fighter took four of the judge’s cards 30-27, while the Indian judge awarded Bylon the round, as she wrapped up Ireland’s second gold.
O’Rourke belied the height and reach advantage of her opponent by landing a series of neat combos early on and denied Bylon the opportunity to use her jab.
She left herself open the counter against the southpaw as she used her footwork to set a high tempo and close the distance but she took the first round comfortably on four cards.
She kept the tempo high in the second round and continued to land the better shots and combinations and was rewarded with all five scorecards in her favour.
With Bylon needing a knockout in the final round, O’Rourke was able to relax and pick her opponent off and she produced a clean sweep to put up a convincing win.
Both fighters will now proceed to the World Championships in Turkey, which take place in Istanbul between May 6 and 21.
