Claressa Shields reaches women's middleweight final

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Claressa Shields reaches women's middleweight final

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Claressa Shields helped rescue American boxing pride by reaching women's middleweight final.

08 August,2012 09:09 pm

Shields, 17, is the last US boxer still competing in London and she faces Russias world silver medallist Nadezda Torlopova for gold after her impressive 29-15 semi-final win over Kazakhstans Marina Volnova.After mens welterweight Errol Spence lost Tuesdays quarter-final to Russias Andrey Zamkovoy, the US mens team will return home for the first time without an Olympic medal.But in the womens competition, Shields is still in contention while flyweight Marlen Esparza collected bronze after losing in Wednesdays semi-finals.This is my dream and tomorrow I am going to fight my heart out, said Shields. At the end I wanted to cry.Volnova, who beat world champion Savannah Marshall to reach the semis, needed two standing counts after enduring a barrage of Shields punishing left and right combinations.Shields said her faith in the judges at the Olympics has been restored after US team-mate Spence successfully appealed his defeat last Friday to Indias Krishan Vikas.The Indian had been been awarded their last 16 bout 13-11, but the US had the result turned over on appeal, much to Shields delight.It means a lot to me, but my best moment in the Olympics is when Errol Spence got ripped off and they overturned it, she said.That made me think about the judges and that they were fair.I wanted to put on a good show to boost the chance of more womens weight categories being added at the next Olympics.