SILVER LINING
Walsh defeated in final but books Tokyo ticket with golden girl Kellie
BY WILLIAM DUNNE AND GAVIN QUINN IRELAND’S Kellie Harrington won gold while Michaela Walsh had to settle for silver at the European Olympic qualifiers in Paris yesterday.
Harrington has now put herself in a strong position to challenge for medals at the Tokyo Olympics after out-boxing England’s Caroline Dubois.
The Dublin fighter convincingly won on four of the five judges’ scorecard and assured she’ll earn a high seeding in this summer’s showcase.
The 31-year-old will now be eyeing gold in the lightweight division – the same medal Katie
London in 2012.
Speaking after her triumph, Harrington (inset) said: “On Saturday, it was an awful sense of relief, today it’s a great sense of an achievement.
“To win a gold medal, to become a European champion in qualifying, it’s probably one of the hardest Europeans that you could ever win a gold medal in and it’s just amazing.
“It’s one of the highest points in my career. I became world champion in 2018. Before 2016 I don’t think I ever won an international fight and I’ve been boxing 17 years.
Taylor won
in
“It just shows that hard work and dedication pays off eventually, but you’ve got to keep on trying no matter how long it takes, and you have to believe in yourself and surround yourself with people who also believe in you. I’m just on cloud nine.”
She landed the majority of scoring shots against the 20-year-old on the way to her biggest result since becoming world champion in
2018.
As a wrist injury kept her out of the ring for much of 2019, and the Covid-19 outbreak wreaked havoc on her 2020 plans, Harrington is now Ireland’s leading prospect to take home a boxing medal from Tokyo. Meanwhile, Walsh, who had already qualified for the Olympics on Sunday along with her brother Aidan, missed out on gold yesterday evening after being defeated by Imra Testa from Italy in the featherweight division.