Irish fighter defends her lightweight title in stunning fashion at Roland Garros in Paris
Ireland’s Kellie Harrington celebrates winning the gold medal after her 60kg final bout against Wenlu Yang of China at Roland Garros in Paris. Photograph: James Crombie/Inphoturned the French tennis cathedral at Roland Garros into a boxing house of joy on Tuesday night as the defending lightweight champion from Tokyo 2020 etched her name in Irish sporting history with a 4-1 win over China’s Wenlu Yang to earn her second gold medal.
Tricolours draped over the divides and green shirts were everywhere in the stadium, the roof closed, with every shot fired whether it missed or hit cheered by both sides. From the wall of noise the arena also fell into periods of nervous silence as the pair circled the ring, before suddenly erupting again.Chapeaux off to Kellie Harrington. She is worth her weight in goldLess than two days ago tennis player Novak Djokovic won his gold medal here in the men’s singles.
Yang was busy, had quick hands and was throwing right hands behind her jab, but nothing exceptional landed on the Irish champion. Both were cautious with a flurry of exchanges near the end catching the eyes of the judges, who scored the first round 4-1 to the defending champion. Ireland’s Kellie Harrington lands a right hand during her 60kg final bout against Wenlu Yang of China at Roland Garros in Paris. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho
Yang had to respond in the second round, and Harrington would have expected more go-forward aggression from the Chinese 33-year-old. Yang did open smartly, but poise and control had been the hallmark of Harrington’s first three fights and she was not drawn into a punching match. The good news for Ireland was Harrington had a title-winning advantage going into the third round with Yang needing a special session to make up for lost ground. Although she handsomely won it 4-1, the match-winning three minutes never arrived, Harrington swivelling out of unnecessary contact and sticking to the plan of boxing from distance.
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