Irvine and Joyce still in with a chance of making RIO
Irish boxing to gearing up to get back in the fight at the European Olympic qualifiers in Samsun, Turkey.
Katie Taylor, David Oliver Joyce, and Brendan Irvine lost their bids to qualify automatically for Rio 2016 this afternoon – but Joyce and Irvine are still in with a shout in box-offs for Rio places between the losing semi-finalists.
Taylor, following her first defeat in five years to Azerbaijan’s Yana Alexseevna today, meets Svetlana Staneva (Bulgaria) in a box-off for third place on Sunday.
But the Olympic champion, who sportingly congratulated Alexseevna after her win, cannot now qualify directly for Rio from Samsun, as only the top two (the finalists) go through.
Taylor and Irish women’s boxing will get a final opportunity to qualify at next month’s World Women’s Championships in Kazakhstan. A top four finish will suffice.
Irvine, who was beaten by Armenia’s Narek Abgaryan this afternoon, faces Bulgaria’s Daniel Asenov tomorrow in the flyweight box-off for Rio. Asenov was today beaten by the British flyweight with the iconic boxing name, Muhammad Ali.
Joyce lost to current European Elite champion Joe Cordina. Despite Joyce nearly stopping the Welsh lightweight in the second round, two of the judges bizarrely scored the frame against the St Michael’s Athy BC man.
Irish team manager Joe Hennigan, expressing concern about some of the scoring going against Irish boxers in Samsun, not only in the Joyce fight but throughout the tournament, said that Joyce won the second round of today’s clash “hands down.”
Joyce meets Turkey’s Volkan Gokcek in Sunday’s lightweight for a place at the 2016 Olympic Games.
Team Ireland are due home on Monday afternoon.
Please see below attachment for Saturday’s program.
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April 15th
S/Finals
52kg Brendan Irvine (Ireland) lost to Narek Abgaryan (Armenia) 0-3
52kg Muhammad Ali (Great Britain) beat Daniel Asenov (Bulgaria) 3-0
(Abargyan and Ali qualify for Rio. Third place to be decided)
60kg Katie Taylor (Ireland) lost to Yana Alexseevna (Azerbaijan) 0-3
60kg Svetlana Staneva (Bulgaria) lost to Irma Tessa (Italy) 1-2
(Alexseevna and Tessa qualify for Rio)
60kg David Oliver Joyce (Ireland) lost to Joe Cordina (Great Britain) 0-3
60kg Sofiane Oumiha (France)Â beat Volkan Gokcek (Turkey) 3-0
(Cordina and Oumiha qualify for Rio. Third place to be decided)
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European Olympic Qualifiers Samsun, Turkey
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) beat Hamza Touba (Germany) 3-0
64kg Dean Walsh (Ireland) lost to Lorenzo Sotomayor (Azerbaijan) 1-2
60kg Katie Taylor (Ireland) beat Martina Schmoranzova (Czech Republic) 3-0
75kg Christina Desmond (Ireland) beat Nouchka Fontijan (Netherlands) 2-0
91kg+ Dean Gardiner (Ireland) lost to Mahammadrausl Majidor (Azerbaijan) 0-3
April 12th
Last 16
60kg David Oliver Joyce (Ireland) beat Otar Eranosyan (Georgia) 3-0
75kg Michael O’Reilly (Ireland) lost to Ilari Kijala (Finland) 0-3
91kg Darren O’Neill (Ireland) beat Gabriel Richards (Sweden) TKO1
April 13th
Q/Finals
51kg Ceire Smith (Ireland) lost to Tetyna Kob (Ukraine) 1-2
52kg Brendan Irvine (Ireland) beat Ellie Konki (France) 2-1
60kg Katie Taylor (Ireland) beat Yvonne Rasmussen (Denmark) 3-0
60kg David Oliver Joyce (Ireland) beat Vazgen Sufaryants (Belarus) 3-0
75kg Christina Desmond (Ireland) lost to Petra Scatmari (Hungary) 0-3
91kg Darren O’Neill (Ireland) lost to Abdulkadir Abdullayev (Azerbaijan) 1-2
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
