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Gareth Fullerton

Commonwealth Games 2022: Team NI boxers shine once again to secure medals

Northern Ireland's boxers excelled once again in the ring as they secured another four Commonwealth Games medals on Thursday.

Siblings Michaela and Aidan Walsh, Dylan Eagleson and Amy Broadhurst all won their quarter-final bouts to earn at least a bronze.

Michaela will medal at a third Commonwealth Games after the Belfast boxer comfortably outpointed Keamogetse Kenosi of Botswana in the featherweight quarter-final in Birmingham.

Read more: Jamie Conlan: 'Watching my brother knocked unconscious made me question boxing'

The victory guarantees Walsh a bronze medal to go with the silvers she won in Glasgow 2014 and the Gold Coast four years later, however Walsh wants to top the podium.

And she insists she has "unfinished business" in Birmingham.

She said: “I’m just taking it one fight at a time and I am not thinking about medals yet. I still have two fights to go the whole way but I’m proud of my performance.

"I listened to my coaches, I did what was needed and I’m so thankfully and happy and thankful to come away with the win.

“I have come here for one thing (gold medal) and I should have had it a long time ago, I have a bit of unfinished with the Commonwealth Games but it is one fight at a time, I don’t want to be looking to far ahead and I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself.

“I’m enjoying the whole competition with the whole time and it is great to see teammates win medals as well as myself because it is something that they have dreamed of for a very long time and to be on the same time as them and my brother I’m blessed.”

Walsh had to wait 12 days from arriving in Birmingham until her first bout. But she insists she is ready to make up for lost time.

“It has been long and even from the draw I have had over a week to wait but I’m an elite athlete and I know what to do and what not to do," she addd.

"I have been doing all the right things and ticking all the right boxes so I an just glad to get that performance out of the way.”

As well as Walsh, Eireann Nugent, Carly McNaul and Amy Broadhurst are all guaranteed to medal in Birmingham and Walsh feels women’s boxing is going from strength to strength.

“The women in our team are phenomenal and I have said it for years, everyone is touching world level," Walsh said.

"Carly and myself finished fifth in the World Championships and Amy won gold and Eireann is coming back after over 11-and-a-half years out.

"The women are phenomenal and we are really pushing each other on."

It was a double celebration for the Walsh family as Michaela’s younger brother Aidan also clinched at least a bronze medal with a split decision victory over England’s European champion Harris Akbar.

“I wasn’t really focused on the score I was focused on the moment and doing what I do best enjoying it, enjoying the momentum and great experience,” stated Aidan.

“You just listen to what the coaches have to say and listen to what the coaches tell you and have complete faith in their abilities. They have known me since I was a kid so for me I just completely trust in them and know what they’re telling me to do is going to work.”

As captain of the boxing team and a Commonwealth and Olympic Games medal winner Walsh is expected to go on the way in Birmingham.

“I don’t put emphasis no more on winning gold," he countered.

"If I’m performing the way I’m doing and doing what I’m doing, just listening to the coaches and doing what they’re telling me to do, I’m happy.

"I’m happy to be alive and its been a great road since the Olympics so its good to be back with a bang.”

Elsewhere, St Paul's starlet Dylan Eagleson reached the last four with a resounding 5-0 victory over Armando Sigaque from Mozambique.

And Broadhurst, the recently crowned world champion, guaranteed a seventh medal in the ring with a third round stoppage of Zambia’s Fellistus Nkandu.

Broadhurst’s victory also means TeamNI have equalled their highest ever medal total at a Commonwealth Games.

Elsewhere, Holy Trinity's rising youngster Clepson dos Santos was unlucky as he fell to defeat against Wales’ Jake Dodd in the Men’s Flyweight category.

It now means Northern Ireland's Commonwealth Games team will leave Birmingham with at least 15 medals, equalling their greatest ever tally recorded in Edinburgh in 1986.

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