BOXING NEWS:IRISH LIGHTWEIGHT Katie Taylor meets China's Cheng Dong this morning with a 60kg gold medal up for grabs at the Fifth AIBA Women's World Championships in Ningbo City, China. The reigning World, European and European Union champion marched in to today's decider following an emphatic, 20-2 semi-final victory over two-time Russian national champion Ayzznat Gadzhieva yesterday.
Speaking after the fight, the 22-year-old Bray woman, who is guaranteed at least a silver medal regardless of the outcome of this morning's final, said she was pleased with her performance against Gadzhieva at the Ningbo Youngor Gymnasium.
"I think that this was probably my best performance of the tournament so far," she said. "I got off to a great start and I built on that. Boxing a Chinese opponent in China for a World title is always going to be difficult, but I will take a lot of confidence from yesterday's win."
The victory means that for the second time in just over three months an Irish boxer will meet a Chinese opponent in a major international final in China.
Last August, Irish captain Ken Egan was desperately unlucky to lose out 11-7 to Xiaoping Zhang in the light heavyweight Olympic final in Beijing.
Earlier this month, St Anne's Westport teenager Ray Moylett won lightweight gold at the AIBA World Youth Championships in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Taylor has won four bouts up to this morning's final, registering 55 points and conceding just eight. The individual scoring from the five ringside judges for yesterday's semi-final was:
Poland 5-18
Turkey 3-20
France 5-23
Norway 2-19
Denmark 6-29
Dong advanced to the final following a 6-1 win over Cindy Orain of France.
Taylor beat Orain 11-0 in last August's European Union final in Liverpool.
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