(Photo - TOM STALKER - Gold in Delhi)
THE FINAL ROUND: by brian zelley
With the ringing of the final bell, the bright light shining in the ring has now faded to black but for all the boxers coaches and officials there will be Golden Memories as the decades slip away. In future days the many boxers will have their group and individual photos and press clippings to treasure along with the memories of their time in Delhi far from home.
THE CHAMPIONS - the GOLD RUSH
Flashing through the finals gives us fresh crop of gold medal winners from the various Nations.
One could claim that PADDY BARNES set the stage for Northern Island early in the Commonwealth Games competition and proved his talent right to the final bell. He was rewarded with the gold medal along with two of his teammates PADDY GALLAGHER and
EAMONN O'KANE.
Gallagher earned a victory over CALLUM SMITH and O'Kane over ANTHONY OGOGO
from England. In an earlier bout, Ogogo had scored one of the big upsets of the tournament with a victory over India's boxing star.
Then there was England's TOM STALKER who had boxed and punched his way into the finals
with some important victories including the one against Australia's LUKE JACKSON. In the final, he would be too much for the young rising star of Scotland JOSH TAYLOR who had some impressive wins along the way, and some thought the youth and speed to outshine the vet. Stalker.
Then there was England/s heavyweight SIMON VALLILY who stopped STEVE WARD.
Gold also glittered for India in the ring with one of the champions being M. KUMAR who excelled over England;s BRADLEY SAUNDERS.
THE FUTURE - LONDON OLYMPICS 2012
There is no way to guess if any of the 2010 Champions will be on s National team for the London Olumpics, but they do have just under two years to prepare and get ready. Will boxers like
Josh Taylor, Luke Jackson, Tommy Stubbs, Iain Weaver, and Alex Rynn take this tournament as
a learning experience, go back to the gym for some selective training and bounce back for 2012
or will some of them and others throw in the amateur sponge and turn professional or say their last goodbye to boxing.
No comments:
Post a Comment