Bronze for Hession in Sofia
Medal in Europe’s oldest international boxing competition
MONIVEA Boxing Club's Adam Hession was one of five Team Ireland fighters to return home with a medal from the prestigious Strandja Memorial Tournament in Bulgaria last weekend.
A total of 222 athletes — 143 men and 79 women — from 22 different federations competed in the 76th edition of the oldest international amateur boxing competition in Europe.
An 18-strong Team Ireland was joined in Sofia by boxers from the host country, Algeria, Austria, Azerbaijan, Chinese Taipei, China (Inner Mongolia), Croatia, Cyprus, England, France, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Kosovo, Pakistan, Slovakia, Turkey, Uzbekistan and Wales.
Hession, who was named captain of Team Ireland, fought in the 60kg lightweight division and narrowly won Thursday's quarter-final bout with England’s Jack Dryden on a split division.
That victory assured Hession a place on the podium and the Ballybrone, Turloughmore native went on to meet Tokyo Olympian and 2021 world medallist Serik Temirzhanov from Kazakhstan at the semi-final stage. Temirzhanov defeated Hession’s team-and-weight mate, Rhys Owens from Fermanagh, and repeated that outcome on Saturday.
As well as Hession, four more Team Ireland boxers were unsuccessful in their attempts to turn bronze into at least silver. 48kg Ciara Walsh from Dublin was drawn in the semi-finals, guaranteeing a podium spot.
Meanwhile, preliminaries and quarter-finals were won by 48kg Louis Rooney from Belfast; 63.5kg Sligo native Dean Clancy and 92kg Jack Marley from Dublin.
Medal ceremonies took place on Sunday and the Team Ireland contingent arrived back into Dublin Airport on Monday afternoon.
Team Ireland was made up of 48kg Ciara Walsh, Smithfield Boxing Club Dublin; 50kg Shannon Sweeney, St. Anne’s BC, Westport Mayo; 54kg Chloe Gabriel, Dublin Docklands BC; 57kg Niamh Fay, Phoenix of Ballyboughal BC, Dublin; 63kg Linda Desmond, Rylane BC, Cork; 48kg Louis Rooney, Star ABC, Belfast; 54kg Patsy Joyce, Olympic BC Mullingar; 60kg Rhys Owens, Erne BC, Fermanagh; 60kg Adam Hession, Monivea BC; 63.5kg Jason Nevin, Olympic BC Mullingar; 63.5kg Dean Clancy, Sean McDermott BC, Leitrim; 67kg Darren O’Connor, Olympic BC, Galway; 75kg Gavin Rafferty, Dublin Docklands; 75kg Josh Olaniyan, Jobstown BC, Dublin; 80kg James Whelan, Dublin Docklands; 86kg Brian Kennedy, St Brigid’s BC, Edenderry, Offaly; 92kg Jack Marley, Monkstown BC, Dublin; and 92+kg Gus Ide, Crumlin BC, Dublin.