They're the Wawman Wonders - and now the Golden Wonders

Its the biggest and best event of its kind in Europe with 378 female and male boxers taking part from many different countries.

St Gerards have entered on a number of occasions and won medals,their last gold coming in 2010 courtesy of Billy Valentine Lavelle.

Two up and coming boxers, Katie Wawman, aged 20, and her sister Abigail, 18, known as the Wawman Wonders, carried St Gerards’ hopes this year.

Katie was entered at 60kg (9st 7lb) while Abigail was in at 57kg(9st), both in the female class C category.

Both had fantastic preparation and hard sparring, their fitness levels high.

The draw putboth girls straight through to finals and on the day both weighed in under 1.5 kgs below their maximum weight allowance, with both girls raring to go.

Both were drawn to box at the same time, so coaches Jon Mills and Gerry Lavelle had to call on other coaches to help them in their neighbouring rings.

Abigail was facing Nicole Irgens Martinez from the Oslo Bokseklubb in Norway.

Lavelle said: “In the first round after about 20 seconds, Abigail had already found her range and was scoring heavily, especially with rear-hand power shots, that resulted in Nicole having a bloodied nose at the end of the round. Abigail had won the round clearly and comfortably, switch hitting at ease.

“In the second round Abigail took over with the jab and rear hand causing Nicole’s nose to bleed more, requiring,the referee to stop the contest and clean up her nose. I was a bit frustrated as to how long the referee took to wipe her nose before the contest continued.

“In the third round Abigail picked her off at ease again with many rear-hand head shots causing Nicole’s nose to bleed more profusely. When the bout resumed Abigail took over and completely shut out Nicole, resulting in a unanimous 5-0 decision and a very well-deserved gold medal and champion status for Abigail.”

Katie was facing Kirsty Skingle from Crawley Boxing club at 60kg in the female lightweight division. Kirsty had won her semi-final and was oozing with confidence.

Coach Mills said: In the first round Katie gave as good as she got. Kirsty constantly chased her down, but Katie always finished on top and clearly won the round.

“In the second Kirsty ran forward and tried to dominate but Katie negated the onrush with many clearer headshots.

“The referee had too stop the contest twice in the second round allowing Kirsty’s cornermen to adjust her headgear. But Katie dominated,with plenty of jabs and powerful rear hand bombs, clearly shaking Kirsty up.

“The last round was much the same. Katie was prepared for the onslaught and ruined her chances of any success.

“It was a definitive shut-out for Katie with a well-earned gold medal and a unanimous point decision, like her younger sister Abigail.

“Katie was awesome and did our club proud. She is a fighter and a half and she and Abigail are definitely the Wawman Wonders, an inspiration to many young aspiring boxers, especially females.”

Lavelle said the club would start new sessions in August for the wider public at the club, who meet at the Swanfield Community Centre, Swanfield Drive.

The club can be contacted on 01243 251248 or you can email Lavelle at [email protected]