Irish boxing trio advance to semis

Boxing:  John Joe Joyce, Darren Sutherland and Irish captain Ken Egan all made it through to their respective semi-finals at the AIBA Olympic qualifying tournament in Athens.

Joyce won his light welterweight bout against Keevorg Galstian from Greece. The Athy boxer had to dig deep before winning on a countback after the judges called it 18 points apiece.

Sutherland won his middleweight contest while Egan put in a commadning performance to beat Daniel Kool of the Netherlands 13-4.

However, there was disappointment for Conor Ahern who was well-beaten 20-12 in his flyweight fight.

Joyce's cousin, David Oliver Joyce also from St Michael's, was beaten 19-17 by Bashir Hassan of Sweden.

However, the Irish Amateur Boxing Association (IABA) lodged an appeal against the result. IABA claim Joyce's opponent should have been issued with at least one public warning for holding in the final round.

Irish squad competing at the AIBA Olympic Qualifiers, Athens April 7th-12th
 
51Kg (flyweight) Conor Ahern (Baldoyle)
57Kg (featherweight) David Oliver Joyce (St Michael's Athy)
60Kg (lightweight) Ross Hickey (Grangecon)
64Kg (light welterweight) John Joe Joyce (St Michael's Athy)
69Kg (welterweight) Willie McLoughlin (Illies GG)
75Kg (middleweight) Darren Sutherland (St Saviours OBA)
81Kg (light heavyweight) Ken Egan (Neilstown)
91Kg (heavyweight) Tom Sheahan (St Michael's Athy)
91+Kg (super heavyweight) Cathal McMonagle (Holy Trinity)