July 2016 Sports Star of the Month – William Hayden

By Stephen Leonard

WILLIAM Hayden of Crumlin Boxing Club returned home from last month’s European Schoolboy Championships in Croatia with a gold medal.

A winner of five National titles so far, he was looking to go top of the podium in the Euros especially after having missed out on the medals at the previous year’s event in Russia.

He demonstrated a superb combination of power and guile in this year’s campaign which culminated in a victory over Andrii Grynnyk of Ukraine in the decider.

In his opening bout of the competition he handed Nazar Karaka a standing count in the first round before stopping the Belarusian in the second.

His semi-final against Russia’s Viktor Kashin proved a lot more technical as both boxers refused to rush in, but some excellent combinations to the head saw Hayden take a unanimous decision.

The decider was, again, a technical clash as Hayden produced a composed display that saw him emerge a comfortable winner despite a split decision being the outcome.

In all, Ireland had six competitors on the podium at this tournament as the team finished up behind Russia, Ukraine and England.