It has been a day to remember for Team Ireland as four Irish boxers were among the medals at the European Games in Minsk.
Michaela Walsh, Grainne Walsh, Kurt Walker and Kellie Harrington all guaranteed themselves at least a bronze medal following on from Regan Buckley and Michael Nevin doing likewise yesterday.
Michaela Walsh claimed one of the most significant wins of her career after she gained a split decision verdict over reigning world champion Ornella Wahner of Germany to book her place in the semi-finals of the women's featherweight division.
After a high-quality contest, four out of the five ringside judges favoured the Belfast native, who has won medals at EU Championships (gold), European Championships (bronze) and the Commonwealth Games (silver twice).
She said afterwards: "I boxed her as a youth boxer in the semi-finals of the World Championships. She stole my dream of becoming a youth world champion, I wasn't going to let her steal my dream of becoming European Games champion...the job's not done yet."
Grainne Walsh has also secured a bronze medal as she beat European champion and world bronze medalist Elina Gustafsson from Finland in the welterweight category.
Medal No. 4 was just won by Grainne Walsh for #TeamIreland at the European Olympic Games.
— Bernard Dunne (@Bernard_Dunne) June 26, 2019
Amazing performance against the current European gold medalist to get a well deserved victory. 🇮🇪👊 pic.twitter.com/99pLlY7udN
"This is what dreams are made of," said Grainne. "I'm actually a bit emotional, it's a great achievement and I'm just delighted with myself.
"I felt my technique and my speed would be good enough to beat her and I had to bite down hard – that’s two tough fights in three days."
Kurt Walker secured Ireland’s fifth medal at the Games. The fourth seed booked a place in bantamweight semi-finals with unanimous decision won over Samuel Kistohurry of France, who was 3-0 as a pro.
Two judges scored 30-27 for Walker.
The 24-year-old claimed he reaped the rewards of changing his style to combat the Frenchman.
"It’s probably the first time I have fought in that style," he said. "I listened to my coaches and the same shots were working every time. I’m absolutely delighted."
Kellie Harrington won a split decision win over Irma Testa of Italy, 4-1, to also claim a medal in the lightweight class.
Aoife O'Rourke was the last of the Irish team in action on Wednesday but went down by unanimous decision to Lauren Price of Team GB.
Team Ireland secured four more medals at the European Games, taking the total to six in Minsk. pic.twitter.com/h6yCD6KB3X
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) June 26, 2019
We need your consent to load this SoundCloud contentWe use SoundCloud to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
