KELLIE HARRINGTON is Eire’s history-making golden lady, defeating China’s Wenlu Yang within the light-weight closing this night. The win makes it back-to-back Olympic gold medals for the Dubliner who additionally struck gold at Tokyo 2020.
This was a repeat of the 2016 World Championship closing, which Yang gained on factors. She raced out of the blocks right here, trying to put strain on the Irishwoman. How a lot could possibly be taken from their earlier bout eight years in the past remained to be seen.
Switching between southpaw and orthodox, the Tallaght expertise had her timing right down to a tee as she exited the opening spherical 4-1. Harrington’s hand velocity and shot choice had been elegant within the second as she picked off Yang, who continued to bustle ahead. Bouncing out and in on her toes, Harrington was once more the boss in spherical two.
Yang threw the kitchen sink at Harrington within the third and closing spherical, narrowing the scores, however couldn’t discover that one large equaliser. Kellie Harrington prevailed by cut up resolution, following within the footsteps of the legendary feminine boxer Katie Taylor to grow to be a nationwide famous person.
The judges’ scorecards learn as follows: Babak Bordbar 29-28, Jung Sook Cho 28-29, Cem Dunar 29-28, Susann Kopke 29-28 and Emerson Pastor 29-28.