Peter McGrail leads way as Great Britain hit new high in European Championships

British fighters delivered a record eight medals in the finals of the EUBC European Boxing Championships in Kharkiv, where Peter McGrail took the bantamweight title.

The Great Britain squad had c laimed places in seven out of eight finals on Saturday, which already eclipsed the performance at the 2015 event in Bulgaria when the team contested five finals and won six medals.

Liverpool boxer McGrail's success made him only the second Englishman since 1961 to win the European Championship.

The 21-year-old saw off the challenge of home favourite Mykola Butsenko, overcoming a point deduction in the second round, to secure a 3-2 split decision victory.

"I am absolutely buzzing. I don't think there has ever been a European champion from Liverpool before, so to be the first is amazing," McGrail said.

"It was a bit worrying when I got a point taken off, but to think that I still won, even with the point off, shows that I was definitely the better man on the day."

Birmingham's Galal Yafai lost his light-flyweight final contest against Vasili Egoroiv of Russia on a 3-2 decision, while Niall Farrell also had to be content with flyweight silver after another split loss to defending champion Daniel Asenov.

Brothers Luke and Pat McCormack both took away silver medals from the light-welterweight and welterweight divisions respectively.

Kent's rookie heavyweight fighter Cheavon Clarke lost his final to a unanimous victory for Russia's defending champion Evgeny Tishchenko, while super-heavyweight Frazer Clarke was defeated by Viktor Vykhryst of Ukraine.

Six of the British medallists were making their first appearance at a major tournament.

GB Boxing performance director Rob McCracken said: "To bring such an inexperienced team to a tournament as difficult as the European Championships and leave with eight medals, with seven boxers making the final, is an unprecedented achievement by the boxers, the coaches and all of the team.

"Most of this team were coming here to get some experience and for so many of them to perform so well in their first major international tournament is absolutely fantastic.

"We have also qualified 10 boxers for the World Championships later in the year, so it augurs very well for the future development of the squad as we progress through the Olympic cycle towards Tokyo 2020."