LISA WHITESIDE can stake a legitimate claim to being Britain’s unluckiest boxer and her run of ill fortune almost continued in her women’s flyweight bout against India’s Pinki Rani at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games yesterday.

The Preston 32-year-old scraped a split decision win to guarantee at least a bronze medal after a performance which appeared to be more dominant than the score suggested and which marked her belated international debut on the big stage.

Despite winning world medals in 2012 and 2014, Whiteside has been largely forced to fight her career in the shadows of Nicola Adams and only the double Olympic champion’s decision to turn professional in 2016 finally afforded Whiteside the big stage she intends to relish.

A clearly emotional Whiteside said: “All I have been saying to myself both in the gym and in the ring is that it’s definitely, finally my time.

“I’ve had a lot of bad luck in my career. Even when I came home from the World Championships with a silver medal, that was on a split decision and everybody said I should have been coming home as the world champion.

“When they announced that it was a split decision tonight, I thought: ‘I’ve been there, I’ve had horrible decisions in the past’ and you start to worry, but I got the decision and all I intend to do now is move on and claim that gold.”