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Going for gold – Harrington and O’Rourke reach Strandja Finals

Olympians Kellie Harrington and Aoife O’Rourke both set gold medal bouts with victory in Stradja tournament semi’s in Sofia today.

Both won their respective semi finals by unanimous decision to secure final spots..

Olympic gold medallist Harrington defeated Kazakhstan’s Rimma Volossenko 29-28, 29-28, 29-28, 30-27 to continue her impressive run of wins.

Harrington will now face either Serbia’s Natalia Shadrina and Russia’s Nune Asatrian in tomorrow’s final.

The Dubliner’s success came after O’Rourke produced the good to reach the final at middleweight.

The Olympic BC Galway fighter shut out Russian opposition, winning every round against Anastasia Shamonova, winning 30-27 upgrading her bronze medal to silver, at least in the process..

The Roscommon talent will face Panama’s Atheyna Bylon in Saturday’s final.

Team Ireland Squad:

F48kg Shannon Sweeney

F50kg Caitlin Fryers

F52kg Carly McNaul

F57kg Michaela Walsh

F60kg Kellie Harrington

F70kg Christina Desmond

F75kg Aoife O’Rourke

57kg Adam Hession

60kg JP Hale

63.5kg Dean Clancy

67kg Eugene McKeever

71kg Luke Maguire

80kg Kelyn Cassidy

92kg+ Thomas Maughan

Jonny Stapleton

Irish-boxing.com contributor for 15 years and editor for the past decade. Have been covering boxing for over 16 years and writing about sports for a living for over 20 years. Former Assistant Sports editor for the Gazette News Paper Group and former Tallaght Voice Sports Editor. Have had work published in publications around the world when working as a freelance journalist. Also co-founder of Junior Sports Media and Leinster Rugby PRO of the Year winner. email: editoririshboxing@gmail.com

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