Bradford College

College Student Wins Commonwealth Gold

Bradford College is celebrating success as one of its students; Jack Bateson won Gold at the Commonwealth Youth Championships held on the Isle of Man last weekend.

Bradford College Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence (AASE) student Jack Bateson took the gold medal in the light-flyweight (49kg) category with a 13-6 win over the very skilful Indian boxer Rahul Poonia, Jack’s third win in three days. 

Jack reached the final of the Commonwealth Youth Championships having beat Shaffi Bakari of Kenya in the Quarter Final 21- 4, then beating Charles Didier Claudi of the Mauritius Team in the Semi Finals going on to beat Rahul Poonia of India in the Final.

Jack flew out with a 7-strong team to the 4 day long Commonwealth Youth Championships, which was Jack's first tournament as England Team Captain, appointed by England Coach Mick Gannon, and incredibly all seven of the team won medals (5 Gold, 1 Silver and 1 Bronze). 

On his success of winning Gold Jack said: “I’m still buzzing now. It was a great experience and I’m really glad that I’ve had so much support from the College and my family. I’m so pleased all the training and hard work has paid off. I’ve been training for a year for this competition but have always had fights coming up, which have prepared me for such an important competition. I’ve been training a lot and am looking forward to some time to relax.”

On plans for the future Jack said: “I’ve got national Clubs for Young People Championships coming up in around 4 weeks’ time and hopefully if I win that again I could be representing England for more competitions such as the World Youth Championships for 17 and 18-year-olds next year.”

Bradford Boxing Development Officer, Paul Porter said: “Winning the gold medal at such a prestigious international tournament demonstrates not only what a dedicated and skilful young athlete Jack is, but also shows that the Boxing Academy at Bradford College really does live up to its claim to serve all levels of boxer, from beginner to international elite boxer. Jack has benefited from a year of top quality training at the College with former Scotland National Team Coach Kevin Smith, and all the other benefits of the AASE programme, such as the AASE boxing training camp in Tenerife during the summer. The new crop of boxers at the College this September will be working hard to emulate Jack’s achievements this year.” 

Earlier this year as warm ups for the Commonwealth Youth Championships tournament, Jack won the Junior ABAE Light Flyweight title in May 2011. He then went onto win the GB Youth Light Flyweight Title and a 3 day Round Robin Tournament against Ireland beating the top three Irish boxers.