By Tom Degun

April 13 - British Boxing’s men and women are returning from a successful tournament in Ankara, Turkey, where they picked up four medals and two golds, which were won by flyweight Khalid Yafai (pictured) and middleweight Savannah Marshall.



The prestigious seven-day Prime Ministry Tournament, which was the first ever overseas tournament for the mixed GB Boxing team, ended with featherweight Iain Weaver and flyweight Lucy O’Connor adding a silver and bronze respectively to the golds won by Yafai and Marshall.

Marshall, 18, was perhaps the team’s stand-out performer as the fighter from Hartlepool saw off Katarzyna Furmaniak of Poland in the final to claim victory in her first British appearance at a multi-nation tournament.

On his path to victory, Yafai overcame Ireland’s Gary Molloy in a superb semi-final performance but in the final, his opponent Selcuk Eker of Turkey was unable to fight so Yafai was awarded the gold by walkover.

Meanwhile, Weaver claimed silver after he was denied the gold by Turkey’s Kerem Gurgen while O’Conner took bronze after losing to China’s Zhang Xiyan in the semi-final.

The Prime Ministry is regarded as one of the strongest tournaments in the international calendar and attracts many of the world’s leading amateur boxers from the Far East and former Soviet republics.

GB Boxing’s Performance Director Rob McCracken was delighted with the team’s performance and claimed that the tournament was an excellent learning experience for the mixed team.

He said: “To secure four medals, including two golds, in such a prestigious tournament is an outstanding performance.

"All of the team will have benefited from being in such a high calibre competition and to come away with so many medals shows that we have some excellent talent and are making very good progress with both the male and female squads."

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
March 2010: British Boxing picks its magnificent seven for London 2012
March 2010: Alan Hubbard - British boxing is finally looking to the future with optimism again
March 2010: British Boxing strengthens coaching team for London 2012
January 2010: Boxing names Podium and Development Squads for London 2012
November 2009: Countdown to London 2012 officially underway for Britain's women boxers