Grainne Walsh performed admirably at the 2019 European Games in Minsk and won a bronze medal after she was defeated by eventual winner Karolina Koszewska on Friday.
Walsh and namesake Michaela both received medals on Saturday with almost opposite reactions as the Belfast woman snarled at her loss to Stanimira Petrova of Bulgaria in their final while Grainne could not help but laugh as the announcer botched the pronunciation of her name.
Congraulations to Grainne Walsh on her Bronze Medal at the European Games. #TeamIreland #Minsk2019 pic.twitter.com/oMlaVAe43x
— eir Sport (@eirSport) June 29, 2019
Congraulations to Michaela Walsh on her Silver Medal at the European Games. #TeamIreland #Minsk2019 pic.twitter.com/arHDomXtzW
— eir Sport (@eirSport) June 29, 2019
Michaela was in a less humorous mood as the loss to Petrova still clearly stung but she guaranteed that she would not fall short the next time.
“I’m very disappointed,” said Walsh.
“I felt I could have got the fight but the level is so high here that the fights are always going to be close. Today she got the not but I’ll use this as a springboard towards Tokyo.
“Tokyo [Olympics] are my main focus. I’ve had one of the hardest draws here and I thought on the day that I could have got it but as I said the level is so high. It was going to go either way.”
BOXING
“This silver medal I guarantee you will be gold the next time”
Full reaction from Michaela Walsh after today’s featherweight final 🥊🇮🇪🥊🇮🇪💪🏻💪🏻#TeamIreland #Minsk2019 pic.twitter.com/YggvONbpK8
— Team Ireland (@TeamIreland) June 29, 2019
