Irish light-welterweight Kellie Harrington fell just short in her quest for gold at the World Championships today, finishing with silver after defeat to China’s Wenlu Yang.
Harrington can consider herself unlucky following a close and lively fight in Kazakhstan, which went down to a majority decision.
Starting off with an orthodox stance, but switching to southpaw throughout, the Glasnevin fighter was straight in with a very good left hook.
Yang was a tricky opponent though and moved in a very high tempo that made her hard to catch.
Harrington remained composed, holding control of the centre of the ring. Liang, however, was having success with her long left jab leading the way, and while her connects weren’t as powerful, they were getting through and she took the first round 10:9 off all judges - her volume of punches paying off.
Harrington was more guarded in the second, but Yang was still proving hard to catch and landing her own shots throughout. Harrington did have success, with her left jab and a nice combination, but Yang did enough to take round two as well.
Harrington upped the pace considerably in the third and landed a big right early on, but Yang kept coming back. Another beautiful right hand landed with a minute left was followed by a nice left to the head by the Dublin woman.
However, Yang came through again with that long left jab and another right to the face. Harrington finished the round with a brilliant right hand on the bell, but two judges went against her in that round.
Harrington came forward again in the fourth and final round, but was caught by a big left hook early on. The 26-year-old replied with a right of her own as both boxers tired.
Two brilliant combinations put Yang on the back foot, giving the Irish camp renewed hope. And Harrington finished with another left and right on the bell, but her efforts were in vain as the close calls went Yang’s way.
Harrington was landing the harder punches throughout, but Yang landed the higher volume to see her off.
However, Harrington brings home a silver medal, a fantastic result at the end of her first World Championships.
