Kelyn Cassidy’s Olympic dream ends in Bangkok after split decision
Kelyn Cassidy pictured at Sport Ireland Campus in Dublin last month. Photo: Ben McShane/Sportsfile
Kelyn Cassidy’s Olympic dream is over. The Waterford light heavyweight went down on a 3-2 split decision to a Spanish opponent in the final Olympic qualifier in Thailand.
The Ballybeg fighter performed heroically at both the European Games last year – when he was within one round of reaching the Paris Games – and again at the Olympic qualifier in Milan earlier in the spring when he fought with a broken thumb.
But after two wins in Bangkok his Paris dream was ended by a Spanish opponent Gazimagomed Jalidov who competed at the Tokyo Olympics and won a bronze medal at the World championships in Tashkent last year.
The Spaniard took the first round on all five judges cards but the St Saviours Crystal fighter had more joy in the second though his opponent took the round on a split decision.
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Cassidy needed a huge performance in the final stanza to turn the fight around and though he performed valiantly it wasn’t enough and Jalidov went through.
Ironically, under new rules introduced by the International Boxing Association all split decision verdicts are refereed to two other ringside observers and ultimately their votes decide the contest.
However, the Paris Boxing Unit who is running the Olympic tournament because the IBA have been banished by the International Olympic Committee has opted not to use this new method of deciding split decision fights.
In a post on social medal Cassidy said: “Never got it easy. Give it all but came up short. Paris Olympic dream over. If you had said three years after making in on to HP (High Performance) that I would end up where I did I would have laughed at you.
“It was a great honour to wear the Irish singlet on my chest with pride and to have the backing of Waterford behind me was something I’ll never forget. I hope you all enjoyed the journey and hopefully I brought good energy and buzz back home.”
Cassidy, a qualified toolmaker, thanked his sponsors for ‘helping a young athlete chase a dream’. He said he was taking a well earned rest from boxing and ‘excited to see what the future holds’.
Ireland will have one other boxer in action on Thursday. Flyweight Sean Mari (Monkstown BC) takes on a Malaysian opponent in a round of 32 bout.
