LAST UPDATE | 22 Feb 2022

OLYMPIC 60KG CHAMPION Kellie Harrington earned a decisive victory in her first competitive bout since last summer’s Tokyo final as she saw off Agnes Alexiusson in her Strandja Memorial Tournament opener in Sofia, Bulgaria.

The 32-year-old Dubliner won all three rounds on four judges’ scorecards, and took the bout 29-28 on the other, to receive a unanimous verdict over the veteran Swede in their last-16 clash. Harrington last met Alexiusson in their 2019 European Games semi-final, then winning a 4-1 split before being forced to withdraw from her final with Mira Potkonen through injury.

At what is the 73rd addition of the highly thought-of Strandja tournament, Harrington was the first of six Irish boxers in action on Wednesday.

The second, Kelyn Cassidy of Waterford, lost a game 4-1 split to Finland’s Nikita Nystedt (30-27, 29-28, 28-29) in their men’s heavyweight (80kg) encounter.

Galway’s Adam Hession (57kg) was beaten on a 5-0 unanimous decision by Abdumali Khalakov of Uzbekistan, as were Cork’s Christina Desmond by Russia’s Galin Golovchenko in the women’s 70kg category and Belfast’s JP Hale — also by a Russian, Artu Subkhankhulov — in the men’s lightweight (60kg) bracket.

Roscommon’s 2019 European champion and Tokyo Olympian Aoife O’Rourke, however, won via a referee’s stoppage of Greek opponent Vasiliki Stavridou on her own return to competitive action, progressing to the last 16 at middleweight (75kg).

🚨Strandja Result🚨

Aoife O’Rourke wins her 75kg bout vs 🇬🇷 via RSC pic.twitter.com/JTuK0SONJX

— IABA (@IABABOXING) February 22, 2022

Due to its invitational nature and the fact that the tournament consequently consists mostly of the world’s top boxing nations, Strandja can, strictly speaking, be more difficult to medal at than major championships at which fighters can receive kinder draws into the latter stages.

It is, however, used mostly as a preparatory tournament for the major championships that follow — in this case the women’s World Championships and men’s Europeans from mid to late May this year.

After opening-day defeats for European U22 champion Dean Clancy (Men’s 63.5kg), Eugene McKeever (M67kg) and super-heavy Thomas Maughan (M92kg+) on Sunday, Caitlin Fryers opened Ireland’s account yesterday with a 5-0 decision win over Romania’s Eugenia Anghel in the women’s 50kg category.

Ten minutes later, Fryers’ fellow Belfast woman Carly McNaul (W52kg) won a 4-1 split over Zhaina Shekerbekova of Kazakhstan.

Like Harrington and O’Rourke, Olympian Michaela Walsh (W57kg) also returned to competitive action for the first time since Tokyo later on Tuesday, and she earned a third Belfast win on the spin for Ireland as she beat Lacramioara Perijoc of Romania via unanimous decision.

Mayo’s Shannon Sweeney, meanwhile, lost out to Italy’s Roberta Bonatti by the same verdict in their 48kg opener at first bell on Tuesday.

- Updated at 19:27 with all of Tuesday’s results.

Ireland squad

W48kg: Shannon Sweeney

W50kg: Caitlin Fryers

W52kg: Carly McNaul

W57kg: Michaela Walsh

W60kg: Kellie Harrington

W70kg: Christina Desmond

W75kg: Aoife O’Rourke

M57kg: Adam Hession

M60kg: JP Hale

M63.5kg: Dean Clancy

M67kg: Eugene McKeever

M71kg: Luke Maguire

M80kg: Kelyn Cassidy

M92kg+: Thomas Maughan