Irish boxer Kristian Jubani loses out on gold by split decision at Youth Olympics

Irish boxer Kristian Jubani came up just short in his 50kg gold medal match at the Youth Olympics in Dakar, Senegal.

The Crumlin southpaw lost a 3-2 split decision to India’s Ambekar Meetei Lairenlakpam after a competitive contest and will return home from the games with Ireland’s only medal.

Lairenlakpam had enjoyed three one-sided win on his way to the final, and set out to continue that trend by imposing his aggressive, come-forward style from the first bell.

The opening minute of the bout proved difficult for Jubani, but he adjusted well and began to keep his opponent at range with well-timed jabs and crosses, making Lairenlakpam miss wildly at times as he pressed forward.

Despite Jubani sweeping the cards in the first, the Indian fighter did not change his style in the second, but began to have more success throughout the round.

An early shove bundled Jubani to the floor, which was not ruled as a knock-down, but halfway through the first Lairenlakpam landed a solid one-two combination that saw the referee issue the Irish fighter a standing count.

In an attempt to win back the round, the Dubliner enjoyed his best spell of the second directly after the count, as he tried to impress the judges with a flourish of hard straight punches towards the end of the round.

Two judges favoured Jubani, but crucially three preferred the work of Lairenlakpam in the second, leaving open the possibility of a comeback win on the judges’ scorecards.

After being forced to fight at his opponents high pace throughout the contest, Jubani looked fatigued in the final round, but still made the round competitive through some dancing footwork and snappy punches on the backfoot.

At the final bell though, three judges saw the contest two rounds to one for Lairenlakpam, who was able to maintain his high-pace style throughout the nine minutes, while the other two judges favoured Jubani’s outboxing, backfoot style.

The Youth Olympics silver is the latest addition to Jubani’s medal collection, who also earned a European Under-19 silver and Four Nations gold earlier this year, to go with the European Under-17 title that he won in 2025.

Jubani won the Youth Olympics 50kg silver with a stoppage win over Iraq’s Almohaimen Takleef in the quarters, and a dominant semi-final decision win over Mexico’s Alan Jesus Ocampo Cano.