BOXING Congratulations from Minister and FAI for World Champion Katie Taylor

Minister John O'Donoghue congratulates Katie Taylor on World Championship Win

John O'Donoghue T.D., Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism today (Thursday 23rd November 2006) congratulated Katie Taylor on her world championship win in the lightweight final at the Women's World Championships in India today.

Following her defeat of reigning World Champion Tatyana Chalaya in yesterday's semi-final in New-Dehli, where she won by a margin of 23-6, the 20-year-old produced yet another great performance in the final today to defeat her opponent Argentinean Annabella Farias 31-14 over three rounds.

Minister O'Donoghue said: "This is a terrific accomplishment for Katie, who has been a great ambassador for women's boxing in Ireland. Her outstanding victory today has confirmed her status as the world number one and I wish to offer her my sincere congratulations on this marvellous achievement. Ireland can be truly proud of this tremendous young talent. Her ability as a sportswoman has been well known in Ireland for a number of years having won 40 caps playing soccer for Ireland from U.17 up.  To reach the pinnacle of her sport at such a young age leaves little doubt about her ability to continue successfully representing Ireland on the world stage."

ENDS

Dublin, November 23, 2006
Irish football congratulates golden girl Katie Taylor

FAI President David Blood has led the congratulations from the football world to Katie Taylor on winning gold at the Women’s World Boxing Championships in India.

Dual star Taylor is also a midfielder on the Republic of Ireland women’s senior team and the FAI President said that everybody in Irish football was delighted with her achievement.

Mr. Blood said: “As a footballer and a boxer, Katie has proved to be a wonderful ambassador for Ireland and everybody within Irish football is absolutely delighted at her magnificent achievement. There are very few people in the world who have participated so successfully in two different sports at the highest level and it just goes to show what a remarkable person Katie is.”

Republic of Ireland women’s senior team manager Noel King said he had been following Katie’s progress closely and was delighted she had been crowned world champion.
“She is a tremendous competitor and whether it is football or boxing she will always give it 100 per cent commitment. I am thrilled for her, and her family, who have always been tremendously supportive of her football and boxing careers,” said Noel King. 

The Chairperson of the Women’s Football Association of Ireland, Niamh O’Donoghue, said that Katie Taylor’s victory was celebrated by all her colleagues in Irish football.
“Everybody in women’s football is immensely proud of Katie’s achievement. She has shown that it is possible for Irish women to conquer the world and we hope that this will now rub off on our international teams as they continue to progress up the world rankings,” said Niamh O’Donoghue. As well as being an accomplished boxer and reigning European Champion, Katie has become an integral part of Irish Women’s soccer for both club and country in recent years.

Katie graduated through the underage International teams at Under-17 and Under-19 levels before gaining promotion into the senior team squad for the 2007 World Cup qualifying campaign.

It was Ireland’s first-ever appearance in the Elite qualifying phase and striker Taylor helped the Republic achieve their aim of retaining their seeding within the top 20 nations of Europe and was player of the match in the World Cup qualifier against Switzerland last April which Ireland won 2-0.

Katie is currently playing for the Peamount United and competed in last season’s FAI Women’s Senior cup Final for the west Dublin club at Lansdowne Road, where they finished runners-up to Dundalk.

Previously, she played for Lourdes Celtic and St. James Gate in the Dublin Women’s Soccer League (DWSL).

Katie will receive her senior international caps at the FAI’s Caps presentation on December 18.

The FAI will invite Katie Taylor to be the FAI Guest of Honour at next week’s FAI Carlsberg Senior Challenge Cup Final on Sunday 3rd between Derry City and Saint Patrick’s Athletic in Lansdowne Road.

ENDS

For more info:

Fran Whearty
Press Office
Football Association of Ireland
80 Merrion Square
Dublin 2
P: + 353 1 7037 528
F: +353 1  6614 264
M: +353 87 995 6381
fran.whearty@fai.ie
www.fai.ie