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11/08/2008
Navy Lieutenant among European Boxing winners
The third Women's European Union Boxing Championships were held at the Greenbanks Leisure Centre, Liverpool last week and is one of the largest international tournaments in Europe, comprising of 20 countries and over 100 competitors. The host country presented the largest and most successful England Ladies Boxing team in history and Lieutenant Lucy Abel (HMS SULTAN) was selected to captain the 11 woman squad and demonstrated a true leader's performance.
View the full medal table here
Easily securing victory over her Finnish opponent in the quarter finals (11-2), she faced tougher opposition against Malefaki, a heavy handed Greek who won her quarter final by a first round knock out. Abel had to box clever, carefully choosing her shots and moving, but she always looked in control easing to a 7 - 2 victory to reach the finals. In the battle for the gold medal, Abel faced Gratzck of Poland ranked number 6 in the world, a rival who defeated her in the first round of the competition last year. Abel, determined for retribution, started aggressively not giving the Pole a moment to relax. A physical fight eschewed but Abel denied the Pole a single point to win the first EU Gold Medal for England, 4 - 0. Abel proved to be a convincing champion having only conceded 4 points in the whole of the competition, and thoroughly deserved to achieve her first major championship gold medal.
The England team proved that despite their relative inexperience, they are a team to be taken seriously winning 8 medals altogether; 2 gold, 4 silver and 2 bronze.
Having defeated the world silver medallist in Turkey last month and Lieutenant Abel's success at these championships she is now in the top ten in the world at her weight. Despite this achievement, she remains focused on the future, "I am delighted with my performance in Liverpool as it proves I have the ability to beat the best in Europe and the World but I have no time to be complacent. I am straight back into my training regime for an international tournament in Hungary in September which is part of my preparation for the world championships in China later this year.'
More photos and a full report with individual results to follow
