Coaches Tony Kerr and Raymond Gibson have provided us with a report on the three Team Scotland boxers that competed earlier today in the finals of the 2013 Mostar Tournament in Bosnia.
Ukashir Farooq (SCO) v Askerov Ismail (RUS)
Ukashir started extremely well on the front foot but found it difficult to land any clean shots on his very strong and clever Russian opponent. Ukashir started to get success at the start of the second and third rounds but the Russian boxed well and came back stronger at the end of each with the Russian proving too strong in the end. Ukashir did fantastically well in winning a silver in this tournament and will learn a lot from the experience against World class opposition.
Jordan McShane (SCO) v Larsen Martin (NOR)
Jordan started the first round well with fast jabbing and hook counters. Just as it seemed he was gaining some significant momentum, Jordan suffered a heavy nose bleed during the second round that unsettled him a bit and his Norwegian gained massively in confidence. Sadly, the referee had no option to stop the bout due to the nose bleed.
Sam Ball (SCO) v Demir Mehmet (NED)
Sam exploded from the start loading up with big shots which his opponent could not live with. The Dutchman tried to catch Sam on the counter to steal point but Sam changed tactics and boxed long to mid range which opened up his opponents guard and scored some some good crisp shots. Showing his class and adaptability, this was the same in the 3rd round with Sam increasing his dominance the longer the bout went on.
All in all, this was a fantastic tournament for Sam culminating in him winning the best boxer of the tournament trophy. This was no mean feat considering some of the class opposition that entered!
All the boys competed extremely well and should be very proud of themselves.
