LEAH GALLEN says she’s ‘over the moon’ to have guaranteed at least a bronze medal at the European Youth Championships – but the Raphoe ABC welter wants a step up on the podium.
“I was expecting to come out and do better than last year, but to medal at these – since I’m a year young for them – I’m over the moon,” Gallen told Donegal Daily/Donegal Sport Hub from Sofia.
“It was a really tough fight. I went in three kilos under so the other girl had a weight advantage.”
Gallen took a 30-27 verdict from Sando Babai (Hungary) and 29-28 nods from Nikos Poutachidis (Greece), Gustin Edwardo (Croatia) and Slawomir Milczarek (Poland) with Pavlo Vasylynchuk of Ukraine scoring the bout for Arga.
On Thursday, Gallen defeated Annemarie Schierle from Germany on a 3-2 split decision after losing the opening round.
Gallen said: “Against the German I just had to bite down and win the last two rounds.
“I was nervous for the quarter-final. That girl was in the World Youths last year, but I just had to be more confident than I was.”
Gallen now faces Csilla Ambrus from Hungary, who defeated Ellouise Challenger of England on a unanimous decision in a welterweight quarter-final on Monday.
Listen to the full interview below …
