Tullamore's Gráinne Walsh making her way to the ring before her bout with Poland's Aneta Rygielska in Italy yesterday (Monday). Photo: Tara Robins Mari/IABA.

Former Irish Olympian slams judging of Gráinne Walsh's fight

Adrian Cusack

Published: Tue 12 Mar 2024, 2:04 PM

The frankly bizarre scoring in the fight which ended Gráinne Walsh's hopes of qualifying this week for the Olympic Games in Paris has been strongly criticised by a former top Irish Olympic boxer.

Wexford's Adam Nolan represented Ireland at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

He took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to vent his frustration after Walsh's 3-2 split decision defeat to Poland's Aneta Rygielska in an Olympic qualifier in Italy yesterday (Monday) afternoon.

"Her opponent was docked a point for holding. Took a standing count. 2 judges had Walsh winning & 3 had it a draw yet she loses the bout," tweeted Nolan.

"These corrupt officials ruining fighters dreams as per usual. Get rid of them!"

He was one of a number of prominent figures who were highly critical of the judging of the bout.

"Scandalous" is how RTÉ sports presenter Jacqui Hurley described the decision.

So two of the judges gave the fight to Grainne Walsh, the others had it a draw, yet the polish fighter is declared the winner & is going to the Olympics?! This is scandalous. Another dark day for amateur boxing & the dreams of an Irish fighter. https://t.co/57Oe8b50yJ
— Jacqui Hurley (@jacquihurley) March 11, 2024

The longstanding Irish Independent sports journalist Vincent Hogan felt the decision showed that amateur boxing was still "rotten to the core".

So Grainne Walsh’s Olympic dream ends despite her opponent taking a standing count; being docked a point for holding and two judges making Walsh the winner with the other three calling it a draw.
Yep, amateur boxing still giving off a bad smell. Rotten to the core.
— Vincent Hogan (@Vincent_Hogan) March 11, 2024

Sean McGoldrick of the Sunday World was equally critical of the decision.

The IOC Task Force on boxing pledged there would be no more judging scandals under their watch. Try explaining that to Grainne Walsh. It is the least she deserves. Imagine spending a lifetime dreaming of making the Olympics and then to be the victim of this #boxing #Olympics pic.twitter.com/fQsymrV8Z2
— Sean McGoldrick (@SeanMcGoldrick1) March 11, 2024

There is one more Olympic boxing qualification tournament which will take place in Bangkok, Thailand, in late May and early June.

It's not known at this stage whether or not Walsh will be sent as the Irish representative to this tournament. Her 66kg weight category is highly competitive and also includes Dundalk's Amy Broadhurst and Roscommon's Lisa O'Rourke.

Irish boxing's head coach, Zaur Antia, said he was happy that one Irish boxer, Jude Gallagher, had qualified in Italy this week, bringing the total number of Paris-bound Irish boxers up to six.

However, he admitted that the tournament as a whole did not go as well as had been hoped.

"I am very happy Jude qualified - but I feel we could have had more. It did not go as we thought it would," said Antia.

“We'll go back, sit down, watch videos and point out areas where we need to improve, where we made mistakes, what we missed - everything.

"That's how we will continue to do well. We'll go again."