IRELAND’S BOXERS TODAY discovered who they will be facing in their opening Olympic bouts as the draw was made in London.
Katie Taylor was first of the six team members out of the hat as it was announced that the No.1 seed will face either Natasha Jonas of Great Britain of Team USA’s Quanitta Underwood, who meet on Sunday afternoon. Read more here.
In the men’s section, 2008 bronze medallist Paddy Barnes received a first round bye and the light-flyweight fights Thomas Essomba of Cameroon or Morocco’s Abdelali Daraa in the last 16. next Saturday (August 4).
Belfast’s Michael Conlan is seeded and gets a bye to take on Ghana’s Duke Micah or Jason Lavigilante from Mauritius (Friday, August 3), while unseeded welterwight Adam Nolan will make his Olympic debut versus Carlos Sanchez Estacio Ecuador on Sunday (10.30pm).
That means Darren O’Neill and John Joe Nevin are first to begins their medal quests. Team captain O’Neill must defeat Muideen Akanji of Nigeria at 3.15pm tomorrow and Nevin, seeded but not getting a bye, will step into the ring with Denmark’s Dennis Ceylan an hour earlier at 2.15pm.
