Erne Boxing Club’s Rhys Owens claimed a silver medal on his Ireland debut, losing out in a 3-2 split decision in the final of the Eindhoven Box Cup.

The 21 year old dispatched a fighter from Hungary 5-0 in the quarter final and repeated the whitewash in the semi-final over his German opponent, before falling just short of the gold medal in the final match against England.

“I was delighted to get the Ireland vest,” admitted Rhys. “I always wanted to get the vest and represent them, and I was happy with my performances.

‘Good performances’

“I put in two really good performances over good lads, and I was happy enough about that. The final was very close. The English fella got a bye on the second day because his opponent pulled out and he was a bit fresher for the final, and I think that showed in the fight.

“I knew it was close but I watched it back and I couldn’t have argued with the decision. Nine times out of ten I would have beaten him, but I am away to the Harringay Box Cup in Alexandra Palace in two weeks’ time and he is going to it, so hopefully I will get him back there.”

Rhys catapulted into contention for the Irish squad with an impressive victory in the National Under 22 Championships in March, and he jumped at the chance to don the green vest when they contacted him.

“I received an email a couple of months ago from the High Performance Unit saying there was trip to Eindhoven and asking if I would be available,” he revealed.

“They invited me down to the Sport Ireland Institute for a week long training camp, sparring with the number ones and the Olympic team. It was a good experience, and I came home for a week and did some training at home and then went back to them for another week before we flew out.

“We should have been going to the European Championships but within the International Boxing Association a lot of the stakeholders are Russian, and they brought the Russians back into the tournaments, so the Irish Boxing Association boycotted the Europeans, and sent us to Eindhoven instead.”

Rhys’ long term plans are to turn professional at some stage in the future, but he has not ruled out the chance of getting to the Olympic Games in 2024.

“My weight category, 60 kilos, isn’t an Olympic weight category, so I am either going to have to move down to 57 or move up to 63.5,” he explained.

“The Olympic qualifiers are next month and there is a team already picked for that, but if Dean Clancy or Jude Gallagher don’t qualify I could move up or down and target winning the National Elites in November at either of those two weights and hopefully get selected to go to the Olympics.

“If that doesn’t work out, I am thinking about sticking around for the Commonwealth Games in 2026 or else turn pro before then.

“It is a waiting game at the minute to see what happens,” he said.