AIDAN WALSH HAS been forced to withdraw from his Olympic semi-final bout due to injury.
The Belfast boxer had been due to take on Pat McCormack of Great Britain at 4.03am Irish time on Sunday morning for a place in the final of the welterweight competition at the Tokyo Games.
However Walsh has failed to recover from an ankle injury sustained in his quarter-final win over Mervin Clair on Friday morning, with the 24-year-old appearing to sustain the injury while celebrating his victory in the ring.
Speaking to RTÉ on Friday, OFI chief executive Peter Sherrard had described the issue as “just a little bit of a scare.”
However the decision has now been made to withdraw Walsh from the semi-final following subsequent scans and medical reviews.
While Walsh will not get the chance to try reach an Olympic final, he will still return home with a bronze medal.
“What Aidan did this week is an incredible achievement,” said Team Ireland’s team leader for boxing, Bernard Dunne.
“His performance throughout the tournament has been outstanding. And it is great to see him write his name in the annals of Irish sport.
“Just over two years ago we selected Aidan for his first major championship, and over the past few months that potential that we had identified has grown and developed into a world class performance, that reflects greatly on the level of preparation he has put in ahead of these Games.”
Next in the ring for Team Ireland is Kurt Walker who competes in the featherweight category at 3am Irish time on Sunday.
