IRELAND’S KATIE TAYLOR says she’s “very disappointed” following her shock loss to Yana Alekseevna of Azerbaijan — the boxing star’s first defeat since being beaten by Bulgaria’s Denitsa Eliseeva in 2011.
The Bray native failed to come out on top on all three judges’ scorecards during her European Olympic qualifying semi-final in Turkey earlier this afternoon.
“I go away to these competitions with the aim to bring back a gold medal,” Taylor told RTÉ Sport.
“It’s such a big competition as well so the loss came at the wrong time for me today.”
Taylor paid tribute to Alekseevna and was at a loss to explain why she came up short against the same opponent that she beat at the European Games last summer.
She’s a fantastic boxer, you can’t take it away from her. She deserved it today. But I’ll come again.
“Every time we’ve boxed, it’s always been a close contest, so there’s very little between the two of us and the difference between winning and losing is very marginal. I don’t know what went wrong today, it’s just one of those days.”
Today’s defeat means Taylor must now wait on Olympic qualification. In order to reach Rio, she will have to earn a place in the semi-finals of next month’s World Championships in Astana.
“I’ll just go home, take a couple of days off and go back into training, and prepare for the World Championships. Thank God I have another chance to go and qualify, and I’m going to do everything I can to book my place in Rio.”
The42 is on Snapchat! Tap the button below on your phone to add!
