It was another successful night for Irish boxing in Belgrade, with four of the five contestants progressing to the semi-finals of the European Boxing Championships.
Tokyo Olympic champion Kelly Harrington was one of four to advance despite a slow start to her match against Slovakia's Ozer Gizem. However, Harrington trembled and pulled away in the second round, winning 5-2 on the judges' cards in the quarterfinals. The 34-year-old is hoping to become the first Irish boxer to successfully defend his Olympic title later this year, joining hammer thrower Pat from Amsterdam in 1928 and Los Angeles in 1932 to do so. He is the second person to do so, after Dr. O'Callaghan.
The Dubliner won in the first round, but the decision was a split decision with two of the five judges favoring Gizem.
However, Harrington came out with even more aggression and high-tempo boxing in the second round, winning the round on all five cards.
It posed a question to the Slovakian boxer in the third round, which she was unable to answer. Harrington finished calmly, avoiding danger and safely advancing to the semifinals.
Former European champion Aoife O'Rourke had to watch her sister Lisa be eliminated from the tournament before beating Hungary's Veronika Nakota 5-0. O'Rourke was in action for all three rounds, winning all of the judges' cards in the first two rounds. This put them straight into the semi-finals, and despite Nakota's comeback, O'Rourke could easily set himself up a good chance of making it to the European final.
Shannon Sweeney also won a light flyweight bout against Spain's Laura Fuertes Fernandez, while Niamh Fay defeated Stanmira Petrova by default to reach the podium in the semi-final match for Spain, who was the tournament's top seed. .
Lisa O'Rourke, who won the gold medal at the 2022 World Championships in the light-middleweight division, lost in a close match to Jessica Tribelova of Slovakia. Perhaps O'Rourke gave in too much to her opponent in the first round, with all five judges giving it a score of 10-9, making Tribelova 5-0. O'Rourke won on four of the judges' cards in the second round, but despite being aggressive and advancing in the third round, she fell just short. The judges scored it 4-3 in favor of her opponent.
