GB Boxers return from Bocskai with seven medals, including two gold
SEVEN members of the GB Boxing squad have returned from this year’s Bocksai in Debrecen, Hungary with medals including two golds.
Olivia Holmes and Cindy Ngamba were crowned champions of their respective contests whilst Demie-Jade Resztan, Hannah Robinson and Patrick Brown all earned silver.
Scotland’s Sam Hickey and England’s Ike Ogbo took the team’s two bronze medals.
It was tournament to remember for Olivia Holmes. The 20-year-old was competing as a GB Boxer for the first time since joining the programme last year and entered the ring on four occasions on her way to winning gold.
Victories over Dea Bolaca (Croatia), Saniya Sultankzy (Kazakhstan) and Tina Rahimi (Australia) secured her spot in the featherweight final where she once again comfortably got the better of her opponent, beating the host nation’s Szabina Szucs unanimously, to seal her first senior gold medal.
Holmes was joined on the top of the podium by Cindy Ngamba.
After a standout third round stoppage victory in her semi-final with Balzhan Askar of Kazakhstan, Ngamba followed it up with another dominant display a day later, to claim light-middleweight gold when she beat Serbia’s Nikolina Gajic via unanimous decision.
Minimumweight Demie-Jade Resztan was back in action for the first time since earning a bronze medal at the European Championships.
After a split victory in her semi-fiinal with Aigerim Sattibayeva, the 27-year-old took on Argentina’s Aldana Florencia Lopezin the final but on this occasion was outpointed by the World bronze medallist unanimously to end the tournament as runner-up.
Resztan was joined in settling for silver by Hannah Robinson. The light-welterweight put in an impressive display in her final with Kazakhstan’s Laura Yessenkeldi but just missed out on claiming top spot via a 4:1 split decision.
Robinson’s other victory in Hungary was earned unanimously against Anna Sajnog of Poland.
Patrick Brown was the final boxer to claim silver after he reached the heavyweight final following victories over Arkadii Karstan and Ammar Abduljabbar, however due to an injury, withdrew from competing in his final bout.
Competing for the first time at light-heavyweight was Scotland’s 2022 Commonwealth Games gold medallist, Sam Hickey.
The 23-year-old won his opening bout over Kazakhstan’s Uulu Omerbak Bewzhight but was narrowly beaten via 4:1 split in his semi-final clash with Turabek Khabibullaev of Uzbekistan.
It meant Hickey claimed the team’s first of two bronzes, with the other taken by Ike Ogbo, who was competing in his first competition as a GB Boxer.
Like his teammate, the super-heavyweight won his opening encounter when he faced France’s Moindze Djamili Aboudou but was unable to get the better of Dmytro Lovchynskyi in his semi-final.
Flyweight Hamza Mehmood, featherweight Billy Adams, light-welterweight Joe Tyers and light-heavyweight George Crotty were also in action in Debrecen, but all exited their respective contests at the preliminary stages.