Team GB’s two-time Olympian Charley Davison suffered split decision heartbreak on the opening day of boxing action at Paris 2024.
The supermum of three, who reached the quarter-final stages at Tokyo 2020, was on the wrong end of an agonisingly close 3:2 split against Turkiye’s Hatice Akbas.
The bout got off to a tricky start with Davison finding herself 4:1 down after the opening three minutes, but the 30-year-old bantamweight did well to recover in the second to leave the result in the balance going into the third.
Despite a strong display in the final round where she landed plenty of clean shots on her opponent, it was the 2022 World Champion, Akbas, that saw her arm raised by the referee at the end of the bout.
Reflecting on the defeat, Davison said: “I admit I had a bit of a slow start in the first round, but I thought I picked up but perhaps it wasn’t enough.
“It’s tough to swallow. I was putting the pressure on but it wasn’t enough, and she got the decision and it’s disappointing.
“Maybe I could have started faster in the first round but then you can’t just rush out and go straight at them because you’re up against one of the best in the world and you play into their hands that way.”
Two boxers from Great Britain will make their Olympic debuts in tomorrow’s (Sunday 28th July) action.
Stepping through the ropes first will be Wales’ Rosie Eccles who takes on Poland’s Aneta Rygielska at 11:52am UK time in the day’s opening session.
Then in the evening session, at heavyweight, Pat Brown will face Keno Machado of Brazil at 19:16pm.
If you want to follow all the action from Paris this summer, click here for all the information you need.
