Belfast boxer Brendan Irvine has reached the semi-finals of the European Olympic qualifiers in Turkey after defeating France’s Elie Konki in their flyweight bout this evening on a split decision.
Earlier in the day, David Oliver Joyce became the first Irish male boxer to reach the semi-finals when he accounted for Vazgen Safaryants of Belarus in their lightweight bout.
The St Michael's Athy pugilist lost the first round in the Black Sea Port of Samsun, but stormed back to claim the second and third rounds.
Katie Taylor is also through to the semi-finals after beating Yvonne Bæk Rasmussen of Denmark.
Taylor won her lightweight clash on a unanimous decision to advance to the semi-finals. The Bray boxer is now just one win away from a place in Rio.
Cavan's Ceire Smith was edged out by Ukraine’s Tetyana Kob on a split decision in their flyweight encounter.
Smith trailed by just a single point on one judge’s card going into the final round, but was unable to turn it around in the final two minutes.
There was also disappointment for Cork middleweight Christina Desmond after she was beaten by Hungary's Petra Szatmari.
Desmond was awarded the first round 10-9 by all three judges, but the Hungarian fought back to claim the win 39-37.
Darren O’Neill lost on a split decision in his heavyweight fight against Abdulkadir Abdullayev of Azerbaijan.
The Kilkenny man won the first round comprehensively but then lost the second round on all three judges' scorecards.
The third round split the three judges, with two opting for Abdullayev as O'Neill bowed out of the Turkish event.
The top three boxers in each of the ten men's weights - the finalists and the winner of the box-offs between the beaten semi-finalists - qualify for Rio 2016.
The two female finalists in the three Olympic weight divisions for women - flyweight, lightweight and middleweight - also qualify.
