Desmond causes ‘upset of the tournament’ Smith progresses too
Cork middleweight Christina Desmond sensationally beat Dutch No. 1 seed Nouchka Fontijan at the European Olympic qualifiers in Samsun, Turkey today.
Ceire Smith also advanced on a convincing win over Hungarian fly Virginia Barankas.
Hailing both victories, Irish team manager Joe Hennigan described Desmond’s win as the upset of the tournament so far, adding that Smith boxed excellently.
Both women are now two wins away from qualifying for Rio.
Dean Walsh will be in action in the 12th bout of this afternoon’s session.
Katie Taylor, Brendan Irvine and Dean Gardiner are out in the evening session, which begins at 5pm (Irish time).
Taylor is in the ring at 5pm on the first bout on the program
European Olympic qualifiers Samsun, Turkey
(A & E denotes Afternoon and Evening sessions)
April 9th
Preliminaries
64kg Dean Walsh (Ireland) beat Erik Agataljan (Czech Republic) 3-0
91kg+ Dean Gardiner (Ireland) beat Simen Nysater (Norway) 3-0
April 11th
Last 16
51kg Ceire Smith (Ireland) beat Virginia Barankas (Hungary) 3-0
52kg Brendan Irvine (Ireland) v Hamza Touba (Germany)
64kg Dean Walsh (Ireland) lost to Lorenzo Sotomayor (Azerbaijan) 1-2
60kg Katie Taylor (Ireland) v Martina Schmaranzova (Czech Republic)
75kg Christina Desmond (Ireland) beat Nouchka Fontijan (Netherlands) 3-0
91kg+ Dean Gardiner (Ireland) v Mahammadrausl Majidor (Azerbaijan)
April 12th
Last 16
60kg David Oliver Joyce (Ireland) v Otar Eranosyan (Georgia) (A)
75kg Michael O’Reilly (Ireland) v Ilari Kijala (Finland) (A)
91kg Darren O’Neill (Ireland) v Gabriel Richards (Sweden) (E)
April 13th
Q/Finals
51kg Ceire Smith (Ireland) v Tetyna Kob (Ukraine)
75kg Christina Desmond (Ireland) v Patra Scatmari (Hungary) or Miriam Guitierrz (Spain)
Irish squad
Female
51kg Ceire Smith (Cavan)
60kg Katie Taylor (Bray)
75kg Christina Desmond (Fr Horgans)
Male
52kg Brendan Irvine (St Pauls)
60kg David Oliver Joyce (AIBA Pro Boxing)
64kg Dean Walsh (St Joesphs/St Ibars)
75kg Michael O’Reilly (Portlaoise)
91kg Darren O’Neill (Paulstown)
91+kg Dean Gardiner (Clonmel)
Team manager: Joe Hennigan
Coaches: Zaur Antia, Eddie Bolger, John Conlan
Physiotherapist: Julianne Ryan
Sports Psychologist: Gerry Hussey
Doctor: Jim Clover
Performance Analyst: Alan Swanton
