HARWICH Boxing Club took a five-strong team to compete in a prestigious international tournament in Eindhoven.

This inaugural event attracted boxers from as far as Indonesia, Russia and Kazakhstan.

Heading the way to gold was 16-year-old Alfie Lucas.

In his semi-final, he faced Soufiane Essalhi, from Belgium.

Lucas avoided Essalhi's wide swings and counter-punched well to take a clear, unanimous decision in the under-56k youth category.

The final proved a tougher affair, though, as he took on Fadi Malah, from the impressive Israel team.

Lucas' shots from distance saw him nick the first session.

However, Malah came back well in the second to leave all to play for in the last.

To his credit, Lucas dug deep and wore down the Israeli, finishing the stronger and that was duly reflected with a points win and hard-earned gold.

Guesting for Harwich was Centurions ABC puncher Lewis Richardson.

At middleweight, Richardson got his campaign underway with a routine unanimous points win against Dutchman Robert Vrdoljak.

However, his semi-final bout was a more daunting affair.

In the opposing corner was 2015 Commonwealth Games youth medalist Andreas Kokkinos, from Cyprus.

The first two rounds proved tight, with the pair taking one apiece going into the last.

Colchester-based Richardson raised his game at just the right moment and scored heavily with his backhand southpaw left to come home with a unanimous points win.

The final was against the Royal Navy's stocky Eddie Larson, who was mesmerised by Richardson's fleet footwork and dazzling hand speed over the entire three by three-minute contest.

A thoroughly deserved, unanimous points win went the way of Richardson with a gold medal to boot.

Eighteen-year-old light heavyweight Pat Allen Cripps squeezed past the dangerous Yassine Aydir, from Belgium, on a split decision to face tidy German Martin Houben.

Increasing in confidence by the minute, Allen Cripps scored well and finished the session by launching a ferocious right hook to drop his opponent.

Houben beat the count, but Allen Cripps went on to to dominate the contest, winning unanimously to book his place in the final.

The Harwich boxer had the daunting task of facing 200+ bout veteran and Rio Olympic qualifier Peter Mullenberg, from the host nation.

Unfazed, Allen Cripps boxed sensibly and had some success to the head and body of his formidable foe.

As the bout wore, Mullenburg's supreme ring nous began to tell as he pushed hard, yet at no time was Allen Cripps in trouble.

While losing on points, he saw the bout out unscathed, with pride in tact and valuable experience gained.

Twenty-year-old novice Paul Gordon had a helter skelter experience.

In his quarter-final, after a slow start, he beat British army foe Jim Clark convincingly on a unanimous point verdict.

Gordon progressed to the final with his scheduled Dutch opponent failing his medical, due to a broken nose received in his quarter-final.

Gordon made a solid start to his final, winning the round on all three judges' scorecards against Bernard Pinto, from Portugal.

At the commencement of the next round, Gordon let off a 15-shot unanswered salvo of shots to force a standing eight count and looked well on his way to gold.

Alas, Gordon would snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, as the tough Pinto was proven to me made of strong resolve. He came back well and backed Gordon up with some solid shots to also force a standing eight count and an eventual corner retirement, leaving Gordon with silver.

Youth boxer Kasey Bradnum got his campaign underway with a measured quarter-final points win against Abdul Samim Khosti, from Belgium.

The semi would prove a far sterner test against Israel's Ahmad Shtivi, who had shined in his quarter-final bout the previous day.

Both battled hard in the opening two minutes.

However, it was Shtivi who came out on top, landing an unanswered barrage of 15 shots and forcing a standing eight count and subsequent corner retirement.

Bradnum was left with bronze, but with the distinction of knowing he had been beaten by the eventual gold medallist.