Four-midable fight quartet land medals

A four-midable duo from Shropshire, all representing Merridale Boxing Club in Wolverhampton, travelled to Dublin for the invitational event.

They stepped through the ropes at the Holy Child Community School in Sallynoggin and came home with something to show for it, writes Craig Birch.

And it was redemption of sorts for Akash Tuqir, from Hadley in Telford, as he looks to shed his tag as 'the nearly man' of competition boxing.

The 17-year-old southpaw has lost two Schoolboys and this year's Youth final, also going out at the first hurdle in the subsequent Three Nations.

A fired-up Tuqir roared into action here and knocked about Irish champion Jack Kelly, from Cherry Orchard, before pulling the trigger in the second round.

Kelly had already been knocked through the ropes trying to attack, as Tuqir switch hit to land an opportune right hook as he came into range.

A back-hander with the left then resulted in a standing eight count and, after the contest resumed, Kelly was pulled out by the referee as Tuqir swarmed over him.

That led to a crunch semi-final against England international Levi Coates, from Repton in London, for the chance to progress to the medal stages.

A top-class contest ensued where Tuqir shone on route to a unanimous points victory, handing Coates just his fifth defeat in 35 unpaid bouts.

He saved the best for last when he downed Belgian No 1 Omar Abdelfettah, from Buena Vista in his homeland, unanimously for 54kg glory.

Also crowned champion for a second time was Merridale's Simran Kaur, also from Hadley in Telford, in a girls straight final at 45kg.

The strong 14-year-old, a pupil at Hadley Learning Community, took an England Schools title in her first competition just last month.

Irish lass Ciara O'Brien, from St David's, proved her match for an exciting contest, with Kaur jumping for joy after taking the decision on a split.

Telford's Kara Murray, again from Merridale, settled for silver having had to take an opponent a year older, due to there being no match at 63kg in boxers born 2001.

The Thomas Telford School student battled gamely and boxed well against against Carmen Mavrodin, from Bay City. She extended her to the cards, too, before bowing out on a split.

Wellington's Raheem Mohammed, another out of Merridale, also took silver having first outclassed Erne's Dylan McMahon unanimously at 48kg.

He pushed Shildon's James Beal close in a keenly-contested final, but saw his opponent's hand raised at the final bell on a split.