THREE MORE IRISH boxers joined team-mates Kellie Harrington (60kg), Michael Nevin (75kg) and Regan Buckley (49kg) in the quarter-finals of their respective divisions at the European Games on Monday, moving to within one win of medalling in Minsk.
On Monday, Lisburn’s Kurt Walker and Walshes Michaela and Gráinne, of Belfast and Tullamore respectively, all took their places in the last eight.
Gráinne Walsh’s was the standout victory. Beaten in this year’s Irish Senior Elite final at 69kg by Cork’s Christina Desmond, Walsh was selected for this competition nonetheless and took out Britain’s Rosie Eccles — a 2016 European and 2018 Commonwealth silver medalist — on a 4-1 split nod to progress.
Earlier this afternoon, the prodigiously talented Walker — a gold medalist at last year’s EU Championships and Michael Conlan’s anointed successor at 56kg — beat Zhirayr Sargsyan of Armenia by the same verdict, taking the contest in the eyes of four of the five judges.
Michaela Walsh, so often on the wrong end of tight verdicts (but not without significant international honours regardless), was today victorious on the same 4-1 split score when she saw off a familiar foe in Romania’s Lenuta-Lacramioara Perijoc to reach the final eight at 57kg.
“It’s always a tough fight with GB and I’ve fought that girl before and it was another close decision today,” she said afterwards.
“All the people in my weight are up there at world level so there’s no easy draw. I’m just happy to get the first one done. She was very tough, very physical, it was a great scrap, a proper dog fight and I’m delighted with the win.”
But while three Irish combatants progressed on 4-1 tallies, two exited by the same scoreline: Dean ‘Breakfast’ Gardiner of Clonmel lost out to Georgia’s Mikheil Bakhtidze in his last-16 contest, meaning Ireland’s 72-year wait for a major medal in the big men’s divisions — heavyweight (91kg) and super-heavy (91+) — will continue.
There was also disappointment for Galway’s 69kg Irish champion Kieran Molloy, meanwhile, as he was beaten by home favourite Yauheni Dauhaliavets on a 4-1 score.
Belfast’s James McGivern (64) and Roscommon’s Aoife O’Rourke (75) will fight their last-16 bouts tomorrow, versus Armenia’s Hovhannes Bachkov and Belarus’ Viktoryia Kebikava respectively.
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