CRYMYCH boxing twins Ioan and Garan Croft did Cardigan ABC proud against some of the best young boxers in Britain at the GB Three Nations tournament at Salford, Manchester, at the weekend – both returning home with silver medals.

The promising 12-year-olds were among just a dozen Welsh boxers selected to take on the cream of boxing talent from England and Scotland – and being in the lower age group meant they faced opponents almost two years older.

Competing in the 40kg class, Ioan sealed his place in the final with a polished, controlled display which earned him a unanimous points triumph over Scotland’s Matthew Traynor – Garan, meanwhile, received a bye into the 43kg final.

The following day saw Ioan lose narrowly to England’s Carlo Geraldi despite a sterling performance which saw him push his far older opponent extremely close in the final round.

“Ioan was so close to a gold,” the boxer’s father, Cardigan ABC head coach Guy Croft, said afterwards. “But he showed Geraldi a little too much respect in the opening rounds and although he clearly took over in the last round, it was not enough.”

Brother Garan had to dig deep against England’s Alfie Mehegan in the 43kg final and did extremely well to last the distance despite shipping some heavy punishment.

“Garan fought his heart out, but took quite a battering,” said his father. “Although he had a standing count in the third round he was still landing some good shots of his own – it was a tremendously brave performance.”

*Cardigan ABC’s Emyr Simmons, who lost to Trostre’s Leon Morris at Tenby earlier this season, gained sweet revenge with a fine points victory when the pair had a rematch in Letterston on Friday night. With honours now even, the pair may be pitted against each other again at Llanelli this Friday (May 16) on a memorial show to Bobby Dickie, Cefneithin’s late British featherweight champ.