England's Ruby White suffered her first loss in 69 fights on Saturday as India's Sakshi Chaudhary won the women's 51kg Commonwealth Games boxing final in Glasgow. Chaudhary secured a comprehensive 5-0 unanimous decision victory on the judges' scorecards. The 19-year-old White had gone 68 fights without defeat before taking silver in a meeting between youth and experience.
England also suffered two other tough silver medal losses. Chantelle Reid settled for silver in the women's 70kg final as India's Arundhati Choudhary won by unanimous decision. In the men's division, Dimeji Shittu lost 4-1 via split decision to India's Ankush Panghal after being deducted two costly points.
Four gold medals for England
Despite those defeats, England picked up four boxing gold medals on Saturday. Sacha Hickey defeated Northern Ireland's Kaci Rock in a clean sweep 5-0 unanimous decision victory to claim her first major senior medal. Patris Mughalzai won the men's equivalent bout against Australian Jacob Cassar.
Isaac Okoh also won gold against Welshman Connor Williams in the 90kg event. In the super-heavyweight division, Damar Thomas took home the top prize via unanimous decision in his win over India's Narender Berwal. On his way to the final, Thomas defeated the grandson of former President of Uganda Idi Amin.
Thomas praised his team and opponent after securing his gold medal. "I got the job done so I'm happy. I've known him (Narender Berwal) from tournaments all over the world so respect to him," Thomas told TNT Sports. "I followed the instructions and once I did, I don't think there was any trouble. The whole England team has been great. Everyone is a world class athlete and we all get the job done, so it's great."
Gold medal for Jon McConnell
Jon McConnell claimed gold at the Commonwealth Games after turning down the reality show Love Island. The 23-year-old from the Holy Trinity club in Belfast romped to victory in the men's 60kg boxing category. He revealed earlier in the Games that he and Northern Ireland team-mate Kaci Rock had applied for the ITV show before rejecting interview offers from producers.
McConnell came through a cracking showdown with Orlando Holley-Sotomi of Wales to take the gold medal. He insisted he would resist the lure of a repeat application for the show in order to pursue his dream of reaching the 2028 Olympics.
McConnell reflected on his decision and performance after the fight. "If I hadn't got through the early rounds, maybe I'd have thought I didn't make the right decision, but I've got the gold medal now," he said. "He put me under a lot of pressure but I have a lot of belief in myself. Everybody thinks I'm just this pretty boxer type of thing, but I'm a hard, hard man to beat, and I showed it today."
