TEAM IRELAND BOXING duo Aoife O’Rourke and Brendan Irvine have both secured medals after reaching their respective semi-finals at the Strandja Memorial multi-nations tournament in Sofia, Bulgaria.
The pair guaranteed themselves at least bronze, and a place on the podium, today by advancing from their quarter-final showdowns.
Roscommon middleweight O’Rourke prevailed after defeating Turkey’s Sennur Demir on a split decision, two days after stopping Dobromiro Georgieve on her home patch in the last-16.
Next up for the Castlerea 23-year-old is either USA’s Naoimi Graham on Friday, after Graham saw off Kacharl Bhayabati of India in their quarter-final bout.
Belfast man Irvine, meanwhile, will face home favourite Daniel Asenov in the flyweight semi-finals, with a decider spot on the line.
The only Irish boxer to have already qualified for the Tokyo Olympics, Irvine beat Bashkim Bejoku by unanimous decision today, while Asenov saw off Georgia’s Nodari Darbaidze.
Michaela Walsh of Ireland following her defeat to Karina Razabekova of Russia in their women's lightweight 57kg quarter-final bout during the AIBA Strandja Memorial Boxing Tournament at Sofia today.https://t.co/YeEUZVeBC4 pic.twitter.com/DlccTu9kMH
— sportsfile (@sportsfile) February 25, 2021
His fellow Belfast native, Michaela Walsh, didn’t have quite as much success, however, with more controversy on show after her last-eight featherweight contest.
Walsh lost out to Russia’s Karina Tazabekova on a split decision with two judges scoring the fight 30-27 and 29-28 respectively in Walsh’s favour. While most observers believed she had done enough to get the decision, three judges went for Tazabekova, however, with scores of 29-28, leaving Walsh visibly aggrieved.
Kellie Harrington was similarly frustrated after her likewise controversial quarter-final exit yesterday.
Bernard Dunne’s Irish boxing team made its competitive return at this tournament after a lengthy lay-off.
