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Trip to Portugal has a silver lining for duo

BILLY LE POULLAIN and Jimmy Lesbirel both came home with silver medals after their maiden trip to the Odivelas Box Cup in Lisbon last weekend.

Trip to Portugal has a silver lining for duo
Trip to Portugal has a silver lining for duo / Guernsey Press

A three-man Guernsey team, which also included Casey de la Mare, travelled to the Portuguese capital for the three-day international competition, the first time the Amalgamated Club have travelled there.

Le Poullain and Lesbirel both competed in the 69kg division in the A and B classes respectively, while de la Mare was in the A section of the 75kg category, all with differing fortunes.

In his final, Le Poullain came up against a German national boxer who fought at last year's European Championships and pushed him close, but lost on a split decision.

As for Lesbirel, he was not fazed by the occasion as he beat Quintino da Gloria in the semi-final to reach the 69k B category final.

There, he took on La Sombra Martinez from the Dominican Republic and also lost out by a split points decision.

De la Mare lost to a home Portuguese boxer in the quarter-finals and lost on points.

'I felt that both Billy and Jimmy did enough in their respective fights to get the decisions, but I won't grumble too much because they were both close fights that could easily have gone either way,' said coach Ben Duff.

  • More in Thursday’s Guernsey Press.