Irish Magno (born July 27, 1991) is a Filipino

amateur boxer Amateur boxing is a variant of boxing practiced at the collegiate level, at the Olympic Games, Pan American Games and Commonwealth Games, as well as many associations. Amateur boxing bouts are short in duration, comprising three rounds of three ...

who has represented the Philippines in international amateur competitions including the

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation (AGF) from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until t ...

and the

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. She has also qualified for the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

, becoming the first female Filipino boxer to qualify for the Games. She did not win for her country but managed to get to the second round for her weight category.

Education

In 2020, Magno was pursuing a bachelor's degree in criminology at the

University of Baguio The University of Baguio (UB; Filipino: ''Pamantasan ng Baguio''), formerly Baguio Technical and Commercial Institute (Baguio Tech), is a private, Filipino, multidisciplinary, autonomous university in Baguio, Philippines. It was founded by Fer ...

Career

Magno's boxing career started when she was 16 years old. While watching amateur boxers train at the town plaza of her hometown of Janiuay,

Iloilo Iloilo (), officially the Province of Iloilo ( hil, Kapuoran sang Iloilo; krj, Kapuoran kang Iloilo; tl, Lalawigan ng Iloilo), is a province in the Philippines located in the Western Visayas region. Its capital is the City of Iloilo, the ...

, she was approached by a coach. The coach encouraged her to try out boxing due to her height. Prior to that time, Magno had an impression that boxing is exclusively for men. She competed at the National Open, Youth and Women's Amateur Boxing Championship which was hosted in Iloilo, learning that she would be competing in the national championship only three days prior. She was eliminated in the first round, with her opponent being Southeast Asian Games gold medalist Annie Albania. She joined the Philippine national boxing team and moved to Manila upon learning that boxing could support her education due to her family's financial situation, with her mother being a housewife and her father a carpenter. Magno also had an older sister who was pursuing her collegiate studies. The opportunity to support her family financially is what kept Magno from quitting boxing. Magno's first gold medal in an international competition was won at the 2012 Taipei Open in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...

. She has also regularly participated in the Southeast Asian Games, representing the Philippines in the

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

, and 2019 editions. Her silver medal in the women's flyweight division was in the 2019 games was her best finish in the Southeast Asian Games. She lost to Vietnam's Nguyễn Thị Tâm in that event's final. In the

2018 Asian Games The 2018 Asian Games ( id, Pesta Olahraga Asia 2018 or ''Asian Games 2018''), officially known as the 18th Asian Games and also known as Jakarta-Palembang 2018 or Indonesia 2018, was a continental multi-sport event that was held from 18 Augus ...

Jakarta Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital city, capital and list of Indonesian cities by population, largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coa ...

–

Palembang Palembang () is the capital city of the Indonesian province of South Sumatra. The city proper covers on both banks of the Musi River on the eastern lowland of southern Sumatra. It had a population of 1,668,848 at the 2020 Census. Palembang ...

, she competed in the bantamweight division. She qualified for the

in March 2020 via the Asia/Oceania qualifiers held in

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

. Magno became the first-ever female boxer representing the Philippines to qualify for the Olympics. However the Olympics itself was postponed to next year due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

and had to train virtually with her national coaches from her hometown in Janiuay,

where she also decided to set up a boxing clinic.

Personal life

Magno has a girlfriend named Erny Ann Micua.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Magno, Irish 1991 births Filipino women boxers Boxers at the 2018 Asian Games Boxers at the 2022 Asian Games SEA Games silver medalists for the Philippines SEA Games bronze medalists for the Philippines SEA Games medalists in boxing Sportspeople from Iloilo Competitors at the 2013 SEA Games Competitors at the 2015 SEA Games Competitors at the 2019 SEA Games University of Baguio alumni Living people Flyweight boxers Bantamweight boxers Asian Games competitors for the Philippines Boxers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic boxers for the Philippines Asian athletes Filipino LGBT sportspeople LGBT boxers Competitors at the 2021 SEA Games Competitors at the 2023 SEA Games