Sport

Emmet Brennan leads off strong first day for Irish at Olympic boxing qualifiers

George Bates and Afanasev Kirill also through but Christina Desmond loses

Ireland’s Emmet Brennan (red) on his way to defeating Bosnia’s Radenko Tomic (blue) during day two of the Boxing Road to Tokyo 2020 Olympic qualifying event at the Copper Box Arena, London. Photo: Adam Davy/PA Wire

Johnny Watterson's face
Johnny Watterson
Sun Mar 15 2020 - 14:49

Emmet Brennan got Ireland’s Olympic qualifying tournament in London off to a whirlwind start when the referee stopped his fight in the second round against Bosnia and Herzegovina opponent Radenko Tomic.

Brennan, contesting the 81kg division, led from the beginning as the more aggressive fighter pushing his opponent around the ring. There was a clear disparity in levels between the two as Brennan chased and scored, winning the approval of all five judges for the first round before the referee stepped in midway through the second round.

Lightweight George Bates also advanced when the referee stopped his fight in the first round against Spain’s Leon Becerra. A cut to the face of the Spaniard was enough to call an end to the lightweight bout.

Heavyweight Afanasev Kirill also beat Georgian Begadze Nicoloz late in the evening. The Irishman won the bout on a split decision in a tight contest.

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Christina Desmond went out to the third seed Italian Angela Carini on points. The southpaw troubled the Irish welterweight from the beginning with her counter-punching, building up a commanding lead into the third round from which there was no coming back.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) boxing task force announced on Sunday that the event will be closed to spectators from Monday due to the coronavirus outbreak.

OLYMPIC BOXING QUALIFIER (Irish results)
London: E Brennan (Ire) bt R Tomic (Bih) rsf; C Desmond (IRE) lost to A Carini (Ita) pts; G Bates (Ire) bt L Becerra (Esp) rsf; A Kirill bt B Nikoloz pts