Five Silver and Two More Paris Places on the Line for Irish Fighters Today
Five Irish fighters will make a big Friday final push in Poland.
After a rest day on Thursday, the fab five are back looking to build on their brilliant quarter-final performances at the European Games.
Kellie Harrington, Dean Clancy, Michaela Walsh, Aoife O’Rourke and Jack Marley are all in semi-final action, hoping to trade in bronze to silver.
For Harrington, Clancy and Walsh, who secured Paris 2024 Olympic qualification it’s just about improving the colour of the medal they return home with, a lot more is at stake for O’Rourke and Marley.
The Roscommon middleweight and Dublin heavy will be fighting for their Olympic ticket as well as silver at least.
Marley, Ireland’s first major International heavyweight medal winner in over 70 years, fights Spain’s Emmanuel Reyes in Friday’s semi-finals. Reyes came between Celtic Eagles Kirill Afanasev and Tokyo qualification at the re-scheduled qualifiers in Paris. Marley will be looking for Irish revenge in bout 13 of Ring A’s afternoon session.
76 years later
— MONKSTOWN.BC.DUBLIN (@MONKSTOWNBC) June 28, 2023
Jack marley 💚🤍🧡 https://t.co/zD5iaYBgIA
Tokyo Olympian and twice European Champion, 75kg Aoife O’Rourke, also has to claim one more win to qualify for Paris – she has at least a bronze medal following her 5-0 victory over Love Nell Holgersson of Sweden but will be desperate to make another step up the podium.
The Olympic Galway middleweight meets home favourite, Elisabeta Wojick in bout 6 of the evening session.
Harrington has a very intriguing clash with the woman who ended Katie Taylor’s 2016 Rio dream, Estelle Mossley.
Mossely has returned from the pro-ranks, where she is 11-1 and an IBO world champion. Before she turned over, she claimed both Olympic and World gold in 2016. The talented duo meet in the fight of the day in bout 3 of Ring A’s afternoon session
Olympian Dean Clancy also faces French opposition, he meets Sofiane Oumiha in bout 9 of the semi-finals afternoon session to up-grade from bronze.
Featherweight Michaela Walsh, who joined the ranks of the double Olympians on Wednesday, fights France’s Amina Zidani for silver at least.
