Jude ‘punches’ his ticket to the Olympics

NEWTOWNSTEWART’S Jude Gallagher is set for a summer to remember in Paris after he booked his place at the Olympic Games following an outstanding display against Turkmenistan’s Shukur Ovezov in the quarter-finals of the qualifiers in Italy.

The Two Castles man dominated his awkward southpaw opponent from the off, forcing two standing counts in the first two rounds before going on to seal a unanimous decision on all five of the judges scorecards in the E-Work Arena.

The reigning Commonwealth Games and Irish 57kg champion breezed through the early rounds of the keenly contested qualifiers in Busto Arsizio where he saw off Hichem Maouche of Algeria before facing what was expected to be his toughest test of the week in India’s Hussam Mohammed, a World bronze medallist last year.

But Gallagher was unphased, breezing past his opponent and into the last-16 where he faced Morocco’s Soulaimane Samghoul. And while that encounter proved his closest contest of the week, Gallagher still shone to seal a 4-1 split decision victory to set up last night’s clash with Ovezov, who was arguably out of his depth against the supremely talented Tyrone pugilist.