Ward's delight over gold medal success at World Junior Championships

The celebrations were in full swing in Moate over the Bank Holiday weekend as 15-year-old boxer Joe Ward brought home a gold medal from the AIBA World Junior Championships in Armenia. Speaking to the "Westmeath Independent" this week, Joe said he was delighted with homecoming he received following his superb performance at the tournament. 'There was a good crew waiting for me at the airport when I arrived on Sunday, and my family gave me a homecoming that day. Then there was a "welcome home" celebration for me in Moate on Monday,' he said. 'That felt very, very good. I felt like the win brought a bit of pride back to Moate.' Joe secured the gold medal last weekend when he stopped local favourite Hayk Khachatryan in the third round of the light-middleweight (70kg) final. 'I boxed brilliantly in the final. I knew I had to be at my best because (Khachatryan) had the crowd on his side,' he said. Ward boxed four times at the world championships and stopped three of his opponents, a sign that his punching power is becoming increasingly formidable. 'I am getting stronger now and becoming more mature as a boxer,' he said. The win in Armenia is the high point of a young career which has also included a gold at the President"s Cup multi-nation tournament in Azerbaijan earlier this year, a bronze at the 2008 European Junior Championships and a silver at the European Schoolboy Championships. While Joe said he benefited from working with the Irish Amateur Boxing Association"s (IABA) High Performance Programme, he paid particular tribute to his trainer at Moate Boxing Club, Seamus Dorrington. 'Seamus is a very good coach and he has been looking after me ever since I first went into the club as a young fella,' he said. Among those who acclaimed Joe"s performance at the world championships was IABA president Dominic O"Rourke. 'Joe sailed through a very tough draw, stopping opponents from Kazakhstan, Russia and then Armenia in the process. It was an outstanding performance in every sense of the word and his club and coaches deserve enormous credit on what has been another proud day for Irish amateur boxing,' said Mr O"Rourke. Looking ahead, Joe said his next aim was to qualify for and compete at the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in Singapore in the summer of 2010. He then hopes to compete at the London Olympics two years later. Asked if he was confident of achieving further success at the Youth Olympics next year, Joe said: 'I"m confident, but I know that I will have to put in the work. 'Everyone will be gunning for me now because I"m a world champion and everyone wants to beat the world champion,' he commented.