IRELAND’S DAINA MOOREHOUSE has bowed out of the Paris Olympics following a split decision defeat in her last-16 bout against France’s Wassila Lkhadiri.
The Irish corner were furious as the French fighter was announced as the winner of the Women’s 50kg flyweight division fight after Moorehouse’s brilliant display.
On the RTÉ panel, Bernard Dunne and Kenneth Egan had their say.
“Ridiculous. Shocking. Shameful.”
Eric Donovan had been “perplexed” by the judge’s scoring on commentary.
Back to Paris North Arena, where a dejected Moorehouse gave her post-fight thoughts.
“The first round, they said it was 3-2 to me, which is fair,” the Wicklow star said.
“I thought I pushed a lot in the third, I thought that was clear, but I lost the round 4-1. I don’t know what they’re judging by. I don’t know…
“The plan was to be in control. I’ve fought her before so we knew what to expect, but I don’t know… I just gave it my all and I don’t know…”
She, too, was perplexed. Déjà vu to Aoife O’Rourke last night, and others beforehand.
“I tried to dig deep coming to the end of it,” Moorehouse added in her TV interview. “I don’t know how it was 4-1 against me.
“I still think I am a better boxer than her, that’s just it. I don’t know what the judges are looking at. I tried my best, I knew I was gonna be booed, I knew what to expect but I didn’t let any of that phase me and I don’t know… I don’t know what to say.”
'I don't know what they're judging by'
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) August 1, 2024
Daina Moorehouse gives her reaction after her contentious defeat in her last-16 bout to France's Wassila Lkhadiri#RTESport #Paris2024 #boxing
📺Watch https://t.co/iUQJmJIhT6…
📱Updates https://t.co/FdweZoIeSi pic.twitter.com/mCvA0h0PGa
Earlier, a raucous French crowd booed as Moorehouse walked out to the ring.
She wore a wry smile.
The 22-year-old settled well, landing some good shots and appearing to take control early on. She won the first round on three judges’ cards, while two favoured Lkhadiri.
It was an even contest early on in round two, but Moorehouse soon showed her class. She aggressively bounced back from two elbows and rocked the hometown fighter with a powerful southpaw rally at the end of the stanza.
It was all square on four judge’s cards, leaving Donovan at a loss on co-commentary.
Moorehouse needed a big third round and she delivered. Lkhadiri may have started best but the Bray boxer grew into it accordingly. She responded to an early cheap shot with a string of good shots, and appeared to blow Lkhadiri away with a superb finish.
Zaur Antia and the Irish corner were convinced she had won.
Moorehouse looked pleased with her evening’s work.
But as Lkhadiri was announced as the winner on points by split decision, another Irish Olympic dream came crashing down.
Going by that top photo, looks like it was a pity there was nobody there to see it….
@Jumperoo: that stand was closed tonight and east stand had a big crowd in it. The people you can see under the clock are kids that played at half time.
@Eamon Maguire: Will ya stop, there was nobody there
That’s a shocking crowd (not blaming anyone) would it be better to have a game like that in an AIL ground and fill it with 3-4000 and the club does well. Surely there is no way this made money for the ground
@Scott Crossfield: does this not really expose our whole “stadia will be full” stance for RWC 2023? The media have played up the thinking that what sets Ireland apart from SA is that for also ran games – like, say, those involving Tonga v Namibia on a Tuesday night – provincial grounds like Thomond would be full. It would have helped our cause if 20.000 showed up for this game.
@Martin Quinn: of course it is different but in a week in which the CEO of the IRFU writes a detailed letter which partially focused on how our bid is different because we’ll sell out stadia for even the minnow games, a less than glamorous fixture in Limerick, one of rugby’s heartlands, attracts less than 10,000 people. Whether you agree or not isn’t really the point. I’ve absolutely no doubt there are people in WR who will be made aware of that. “Traditional rugby communities” is how Browne and the media have spun this. It doesn’t get more traditional than the Barbarians, against a recognised rugby nation. It looks bad.
@grandslamkbo: no it doesn’t, glory days are long gone for the baa-baa’s. they are a corporate group ,who gives a shit about them. It’s a mad panic even to fill a squad with them sometimes , it’s nice to be asked to play with them but I doubt there’s a player out there that aspires to be a baa-baa some day.
@grandslamkbo: the powers that be in their wisdom decided that a local AIL game between Young Munster and Garryowen would kick-off at the same time on the other side of the city.
That coupled with the very bad weather didn’t help. But agreed it is very poor optics in light of our arguments on stadia since S.A announced as preferred choice for 2023.
@Hardly Normal: i don’t care about the Barbarians either but that’s not the point. This was still a Friday night fixture in Limerick involving a world cup team and another with a long history. Arguing about the BaaBaas role is irrelevant. The stadium was about 20% full. It looks terrible.
@grandslamkbo: I think your argument is irrelevant, the barbarians are responsible for their own marketing. We just supplied a stadium. Weather played a massive aspect too! Someone else mentioned there was a local ail match at the same time! If it was important to have a full stadium they could have hyped it up, televised it and handed out free tickets if needs be.
@grandslamkbo: it takes brains to fix anAIL limerick derby the same night in the same city, also most junior rugby teams in the province have training on Friday nights
@Hardly Normal: that doesn’t make sense. The fact that it wasn’t televised means you’d expect more people to be at it. Do you think the attendance would have been bigger if it was live on tv?
Pretending the AIL fixture had any effect is nonsense. There were 250 at it tops. I know. I was there
@Martin Quinn: What are you on about? You want me to produce a photo to prove I was there? Fu<£ing clown. It's almost like you believe the attendance at the munster game was low because they were all watching AIL. Wake up.
Good man Donnacha. Proper order.
The unending tributes to Anthony Foley (deceased for well over a year now) are getting too much. He was a fine player, not a great coach.
@Paul K Murphy: Nope, because he’s dead over a year and it’s old. RIP but come on, please stop.
@John Reid:
K**b head
Was this on TV
@Charlie Brown: no but Pundit Arena had an online stream
@Charlie Brown: No thank God
Is it not 5 Irish debutants, or has Muldoon played for the Baa-baas before?