Northern boxers advance in Delhi

Boxing: Northern Ireland boxers Eamon O’Kane and Mark O’Hara won preliminary bouts to get their Commonwealth Games off to a …

Boxing:Northern Ireland boxers Eamon O'Kane and Mark O'Hara won preliminary bouts to get their Commonwealth Games off to a winning start at the Talkatora Stadium in Delhi, India.

O’Kane won bronze for Ireland at the 2008 European Championships and his opening bout in Delhi saw the Irish captain defeat Sri Lanka middleweight, Renil Jayathilakage, 5-0, while O’Hara got the better of Namibia’s Mika Shonena 6-3 in the lightweight division.

There was no joy for Belfast light-welterweight Steven Donnelly after he lost 10-0 to medal favourite Luke Woods of Australia.

Paddy Gallagher will be in action tomorrow, while European light-flyweight champion and 2008 Olympic bronze medalist Paddy Barnes opens his campaign against Scotland’s Ian Boucher on Thursday.