Sport

Emmet Brennan bids to make it magnificent seven for Irish boxing team

Emmet Brennan is still in the hunt for an Olympic place as he takes on Sweden's Liridon Nuha this evening. Picture by PA
Emmet Brennan is still in the hunt for an Olympic place as he takes on Sweden's Liridon Nuha this evening. Picture by PA Emmet Brennan is still in the hunt for an Olympic place as he takes on Sweden's Liridon Nuha this evening. Picture by PA

Amateur boxing: Road to Tokyo European Olympic qualifier (coverage live on Olympics.com)

IRELAND will send a team of at least six boxers to Tokyo in six weeks following an impressive weekend at the European Olympic qualifiers – with Emmet Brennan hoping to make it a magnificent seven when he steps between the ropes this evening.

The Dublin light-heavy put up a serious performance in last eight defeat to Croatia’s Luka Plantic on Saturday, and now faces a make-or-break showdown with Sweden’s Liridon Nuha at Le Grand Dome in Paris, a prized Tokyo 2020 place on offer for the winner.

Brennan is bidding to join the already-qualified Brendan Irvine, Kurt Walker, Aoife O’Rourke, Kellie Harrington and Aidan and Michaela, the Belfast siblings who sealed their qualification yesterday afternoon.

Michaela – who turned 28 on Saturday – celebrated her birthday in style with a unanimous victory over Sweden’s Stephanie Thour while Aidan’s slick skills in the first two rounds proved enough to see off the determined challenge of experienced Ukrainian Yevhenii Barabanov.

On a super Saturday for Irish female fighters, Roscommon middleweight O’Rourke secured her spot with a dogged display against Poland’s Elzbieta Wojcik – the woman she beat to claim the 2019 European title.

And O’Rourke had to do it the hard way too, bouncing back after Wojcik claimed the first round on all five judges’ cards, the Castlerea puncher showing incredible courage to wrestle the momentum away from her opponent.

The Pole then had a point deducted before O’Rourke forced a standing count in the third to rubber-stamp a brilliant victory.

Later that day 2018 World champion Harrington wrote another chapter in a superb career when she defeated reigning IBF World professional champion Maiva Hamadouche in a rip-roaring contest.

The Dublin lightweight used her superior skills to claim the first two rounds before standing toe-to-toe with the tough Frenchwoman in the last, the emotion clear on Harrington’s face as she earned a unanimous 5-0 victory to secure her passage to Tokyo.

There was no joy for Ireland’s male competitors on Saturday, however, with George Bates, Kiril Afanasev or Gytis Lisinskas all seeing their Olympic hopes extinguished.

Bates produced one of the performances of the day when he pushed former World champion Javid Chalabiyev all the way in a relentless contest before coming out the wrong side of a 3-2 split decision.

Fleet feet helped Bates take the first but the Azeri barely stopped three punches for the entire three rounds, and eventually some started to find a home as the Dublin lightweight tired.

Heavyweight Kirill Afanasev gave it everything against Emmanuel Reyes Pla but it wasn’t enough against the talented Spaniard, while inexperienced Gytis Lisinskas fell short in his last 16 clash with Bulgaria’s Petar Belberov.

Brendan Irvine, who had sealed his qualification for the Games in March 2020, lost out to slick Spaniard Gabriel Escobar on Saturday – a defeat that will impact the Belfast flyweight’s seeding in Tokyo.