THERE WERE MIXED fortunes for Ireland’s Olympic hopefuls at the World Boxing Championships in China this morning.
Flyweight Ceire Smith, from Cavan, recorded her first win in the competition by stopping her opponent Veglina Svetlana in the third round after leading the first two by large margins.
Smith progresses into Sunday’s last-32 after seeing off the Tajikistan fighter but team-mate Sinead Kavanagh did not enjoy similar success as the Dubliner suffered defeat to Francelis Carmona Paez of Venezuela.
Kavanagh, a middleweight, lost the first round by a single point but couldn’t claw her way back into the bout and went out 18-15 in the end.
Ireland’s great hope Katie Taylor received a bye into the second round and begins her mission to qualify for London 2012 against either Rim Jourini of Turkey or Portugal’s Caneda de Rocha.
