(JUNE 29) England’s Savannah Marshall, Natasha Jonas and Sharon Holford were all Gold medal winners, at the 4th European Union championships in Pazardjik, Bulgaria this weekend where the five-strong team – aided by bronzes for Hannah Beharry and Lucy O'Connor – also annexed the “Team of the Championships award”.

Team manager Martin Webb said: "I always believed this team was capable of great things but to come back with three gold medals and the types of performances we have seen stands us in great stead for the future.

"The girls are improving all the time. In Savannah we have an 18-year-old kid for whom the sky really is the limit, Natasha just proved a cut above the rest and Sharon came through with a really gutsy series of performances."

A particularly encouraging performance then for England, which augurs well for the future. Savannah Marshall, who like Amanda Coulson is from Hartlepool, was taking part in her first senior international competition, and in the final defeated Spain’s Tamara Garcia with an outstanding performance, forcing her opponent to take a standing count in round three. Her 15 -2 points win was no more than she deserved. Certainly one can see Savannah being a real ‘star of the future’ and one to watch if, as we all hope, Women’s Boxing is included in the 2012 (London) Olympic Games.

Another fine performance came from Natasha Jonas, who was much too strong for Hungarian champion Csilla Csejtei at light-welterweight, leading 5-0 lead after the first round and ending with a clear cut 9-0 victory, in their final bout.

A great win too for Sharon Holford, the 29 years old from Sheffield who battled back from a 3-1 deficit at the end of round two against Poland's Katarzyna Czuba to level the fight going into the final round and came through 5-4 for the Gold medal.

It goes without saying that once again Katie Taylor, from the St Fergal’s’ Club in Bray, County Wicklow won the 60kg title, for Ireland, thanks to a 35th consecutive win since 2006. A great record from one of the all time greats of Women’s Amateur boxing and still not 23 years old.