Tokyo Olympians – Philippines’ new woman surprise Irish Magno

The Tokyo Olympic Games is ahead of us the re-scheduled event will be held in Japan between July 23 and August 8. The Asian Boxing Confederation introduces our quota holders firstly the women boxers who qualified already to Tokyo through the Asian & Oceanian Olympic Boxing Qualifying Event which was held in Amman, Jordan on March 2020.

Irish Magno was born in the city of Iloilo on July 27 in 1991 and began her boxing career following her 16th birthday. Aye, which is her nickname, moved from Iloilo to Manila to the ABAP Boxing Gym and joined to the national team following her first successes in the Philippines. She likes the rock music and the classic Filipino cuisines such as the tinolang manok and the adobo chicken.

She won her first ever international tournament, the Taipei City Box Cup in August 2012 where she defeated the local favourite, Ping Meng Chieh in the final of the flyweight (51kg). Magno was involved to the Filipino team which attended at the 2013 Southeast Asian Games where she earned bronze medal.

Following her international event in Sri Lanka, and her next national title, Magno competed at the Jeju 2014 AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships. She claimed silver medal in the next edition of the Southeast Asian Games in Singapore in June 2015 where only Nguyen Thi Yen of Vietnam was able to beat her.

She competed in her second AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships in Kazakhstan in 2016 and she attended in her first Asian Games in 2018. The year of 2019 delivered strong breakthrough for her opening the year with a silver medal at the strong Strandja Memorial Tournament in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Magno competed in her fourth AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships in Ulan-Ude, Russia in October 2019. Her main event in the year was the next edition of the Southeast Asian Games where she could attend in the front of the home crowd in the Philippines. She defeated Thailand’s Jutamas Jitpong in a key semi-final but Vietnam’s ASBC Asian Women’s Champion Nguyen Thi Tam was too strong for her in the final. Irish Magno arrived to the Asian & Oceanian Olympic Boxing Qualifying Event to Amman, Jordan in top shape but the women’s flyweight (51kg) was seriously strong in the competition. She eliminated a boxer from Hong Kong before she was stopped by India’s six-time AIBA Women’s World Champion Chungneijang Mary Kom Hmangte. For the Olympic quota in the specific Box-off, she defeated Tajikistan’s Sumaiya Kosimova in Amman and earned the spot for the Tokyo Games.

Personal biography
Name: Irish Magno
Country : Philippines
Gender : Woman
Date of birth : 27/07/1991
Height : 157cm
Weight category : 51kg
Residence : Philippines
Stance : Orthodox
Best achievements:
2020 – Asian & Oceanian Olympic Boxing Qualifying Event (Amman, JOR) – 5th place
2019 – Southeast Asian Games (Pasay, PHI) – Silver
2019 – Strandja Memorial Tournament (Sofia, BUL) – Silver
2018 – Kapolri Cup (Manado, INA) – Bronze
2015 – Southeast Asian Games (Singapore, SIN) – Silver
2013 – Southeast Asian Games (Nay Pyi Taw, MYA) – Bronze
2012 – Taipei City Cup (Taipei, TPE) – Gold

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