Boxing: European Olympic qualifiers
BELFAST’S Brendan Irvine is just one win away from achieving his dream of reaching this summer’s Olympic Games in Rio after moving into the last-four of the European qualifiers on Wednesday.
The St Paul’s flyweight reached the semi-finals in Samsun, Turkey after defeating France’s Elie Konki on a split decision, and will meet Narek Abgaryan on Friday. The Armenian defeated Vincenzo Picardi on Wednesday night - the Italian veteran who edged out Irvine at the Strandja multinations tournament in Sofia, Bulgaria back in February.
European Games silver medalist Irvine had spoken before leaving for Turkey about the possibility of getting revenge on Picardi - who won a bronze medal at the 2008 Olympics - but Abgaryan has denied him that opportunity.
As the top three fighters in each weight make it to Rio, Irvine now has two chances to seal qualification as, even if he loses to Abgaryan, he will box-off against the loser of the other semi-final for the third spot.
Just reaching this stage is a huge achievement for the 19-year-old, considering he only competed in his first Irish Elite Championships 15 months ago - and that was at light-flyweight.
Paddy Barnes’ qualification through the World Series of Boxing meant he had laid claim to the 49kg spot, so Irvine had to move up in weight to keep his Olympic dreams alive and, so far, he is grabbing the opportunity with both hands.
It wasn’t all good news on Wednesday, though, as heavyweight hopeful Darren O’Neill dropped a split decision against Abdulkadir Abdullayev of Azerbaijan. The Kilkenny man won the first round comprehensively, but then lost the second round on all three judges' scorecards. The third round split the three judges, with two opting for Abdullayev as London Olympian O'Neill bows out of the Turkish event.
Earlier on Wednesday, David Oliver Joyce became the first Irish male boxer to reach the semi-finals when he accounted for Vazgen Safaryants of Belarus in their lightweight bout. The St Michael’s, Athy fighter lost the first round, but stormed back to claim the second and third rounds and will meet England’s Joe Cordina in Friday’s semi-final.
Joyce will be hoping for a repeat of the last time he faced Cordina at the 2012 European Olympic qualifiers in Turkey, the Kildare man forcing a stoppage on that occasion. Like Irvine, Joyce now has two chances to secure qualification.
Katie Taylor remains on track to defend her Olympic gold medal after progressing to the last-four on Wednesday with a unanimous decision victory over Yvonne Baek Rasmussen of Denmark.
Unfortunately for Cavan's Ceire Smith, she was edged out by Ukraine’s Tetyana Kob on a split decision in their flyweight encounter. Smith trailed by just a single point on one judge’s card going into the final round, but was unable to turn it around in the final two minutes.
There was also disappointment for Cork middleweight Christina Desmond after she was beaten by Hungary's Petra Szatmari. Desmond was awarded the first round 10-9 by all three judges, but the Hungarian fought back to claim the win 39-37.
