KELLIE HEADS MEDAL HOPES IN RING
KELLIE HARRINGTON is Ireland’s main medal hope in the ring. The 2018 world lightweight champion is the top seed, by virtue of claiming gold at the European qualifiers in Paris last month. The affable Dubliner was imperious in that event and was superb in overwhelming British hopeful Caroline Dubois in the final. Harrington will get a bye in the opening round and should have a favourable draw. However, she could meet current world champion Beatriz Ferreira before the final. The Brazilian is seeded third as the top-ranked fighter from the Americas so it is likely to be Ferreira or India’s Simranjit Kaure Baath, the fourth seed, who will be on Harrington’s side of the draw. Should the 31year-old make it to the lightweight final, she will fight on the final day of the Olympics, August 8.
Michaela Walsh is the only other Irish boxer to be seeded. The Belfast native is the third-highest ranked featherweight. However, the IOC Boxing Task Force has deemed that the top boxer from the Americas, in this case Brazil’s Jucielen Romeu, be the third seed at each weight.
Castlerea’s Aoife O’Rourke, who won the European middleweight title in 2019, is the third female fighter. She performed well at the qualifying event in Paris but was ultimately outclassed by Britain’s world champion Lauren Price in the semifinals and O’Rourke will hope to avoid her, and Zemfira Magomedaliva of Russia, in the draw.
Kurt Walker and Aidan Walsh are set to be the first two Irish boxers in action at the Ryogoku Sumo Hall as the preliminary round of
featherweight and welterweight take place on the opening day.
Walker surprisingly fell at the first hurdle in the European qualifying event but got in because of his high rankings. The Lisburn native is up against it in an extremely competitive featherweight division. Russia’s Vladimir Nikitin, given a highly controversial decision over Michael Conlan, has returned as has Cuba’s Lazaro Alvarez, who was beaten by John Joe Nevin in the semi-final at London 2012, and is hoping to finally claim gold at the third time of asking.
Ireland’s team captain Brendan Irvine is the only fighter with previous Olympic experience. A Commonwealth Games silver medalist and European bronze medalist, the flyweight will be hoping to find himself on the other side of the draw to India’s Amit Pangal and Uzbekistan’s Shakitobidin Zoirov.
Emmet Brennan’s heartwarming story is the sort that makes an Olympics. The Dubliner gave up his job as a pipe-fitter and took out a credit union loan to chase his dream, which came to fruition in Paris when he won an attritional light-heavyweight box-off against Sweden’s Liridon Nuha, despite being docked a point.
He will have it all to do in a division stacked with classy operators like the Cuban Arlen Lopez, middleweight champion in Rio, and Kazakhstan’s Bekzad Nurdakletov.