OLYMPIC golden girl Kellie Harrington makes her eagerly-anticipated return to the ring today when she boxes at the Strandja International tournament in the Bulgarian capital Sofia.
The Dubliner hasn’t laced up gloves competitively since her stunning victory over Brazil’s Beatriz Ferreira in Tokyo last August but, having received a last 32 bye, will face Sweden’s Agnes Alexiusson in the afternoon session, which starts at 12pm Irish time.
The pair last met at the semi-final stage of the European Championships in 2019, when Harrington was forced to withdraw from the decider after picking up a hand injury in that last four clash.
The 32-year-old was due to be part of the Irish team competing at the World Championships in Turkey back in December before that competition was postponed and rescheduled for May 6-21 in Istanbul.
Harrington’s fellow Tokyo Olympian Aoife O’Rourke is in action this evening, taking on Greece’s Vasiliki Stavridou in a bid to secure a place in the middleweight last 16 tomorrow, while Cork’s Christina Desmond is up against Russia’s Galina Golovchenko.
Belfast’s JP Hale, meanwhile, faces a tough last 16 showdown against Russia’s Artur Subkhankalov.
The Star lightweight, who claimed his first Irish elite title last October, received a bye in Bulgaria, while his opponent overcame India’s Varinder Singh on Sunday.
Southpaw Subkhankalov has also fought twice as a professional, winning both last year, while his senior amateur career dates back to 2011. He meets Hale in today’s evening session, which gets under way at 5pm Irish time.
It is another taste of top level international action for Hale, who made his elite international bow at November’s World Championships in Belgrade. The 20-year-old competes at 60kg in Strandja, but will be in the mix for Commonwealth Games selection at 63.5kg after lightweight was not included in the weights for Birmingham this summer.
Also in contention at that weight is St George’s ace Jack McGivern, who took the 63.5kg crown at the Ulster Elites.
With Irish featherweight king Kurt Walker off the scene since turning over to the paid ranks at the end of last year – he makes his pro debut in Glasgow on Saturday night – Adam Hession has taken on the mantle at 57kg.
The 21-year-old from Galway, a silver medallist at the European U22 Championships last year, backed that up with some impressive performances en route to claiming the Irish elite crown in October and a spot on the team that went to the Worlds.
Hession received a bye into the last 16, but will have his hands full with tough Uzbek Abdumalik Khalokov in today’s evening session.
Light-heavyweight Kelyn Cassidy takes on Finland’s Nikita Nystedt this afternoon, the Waterford southpaw aiming to build on an encouraging performance at his maiden Woirld Championships.
Following a stunning early stoppage of Tommy Hyde in the Irish elite final, the 24-year-old won two bouts in Belgrade before exiting just before the medal stages. Cassidy looks to be on the slightly more favourable side of the draw at 80 kilos, and he will be hoping to get more international rounds under his belt.
The last Irish boxer between the ropes will be Dublin’s Luke Maguire, who faces a date with Kyrgzstan’s Syrgak Abdyzhapar Uulu tomorrow evening. The Esker light-middle finished 2021 in stellar fashion, claiming gold and picking up the Best Boxer Award at the Golden Gong multi-nations tournament in North Macedonia.
McNAUL, FRYERS AND WALSH GET IRELAND UP AND RUNNING IN SOFIA
CARLY McNaul, Caitlin Fryers and Michaela Walsh registered Ireland’s first wins in Bulgaria after showing their quality at the Strandja International tournament yesterday.
Tokyo Olympian Walsh marked her return to competitive action for the first time since last summer with a unanimous decision win over Lacramioara Perijoc of Romania last night while flyweight McNaul progressed on a 4-1 split decision to set up a last eight clash with Bulgaria’s Gabriel Dimitrova on Thursday afternoon.
The 2018 Commonwealth Games silver medallist had to recover from a slow start against Zhaina Shekerbekova, with McNaul finding the slick Kazakh hard to pin down.
However, the east Belfast woman found her groove in the second and third, going on the offensive and closing down Shekerbekova, who tired as the bout wore on.
With the Kazakh on shaky legs heading into the final 20 seconds, she touched down after being caught with a right from the relentless McNaul to sway an all-action fight – and claim an impressive scalp for the 31-year-old, who will go in full of confidence against Dimitrova.
The Covid-19 pandemic has hampered Fryers’ progression onto the international stage at elite level, but the former World Youth bronze and European Youth silver medallist made up for lost time with a split decision win over Romania’s Eugenia Anghel.
Immaculata light-fly Fryers set the pace from the start, dominating the opening two rounds with classy jabs and clever footwork, picking off her opponent from the outside.
Knowing she needed a big final round, though, Anghel caught Fryers with a right hook that forced a count with two minutes left in the third.
But the west Belfast woman not only weathered the storm, she then went on the front foot and took the fight to Anghel to set up a quarter-final showdown with Finland’s Pihla Kaivo-Oja in tomorrow’s afternoon session.
There was disappointment for Shannon Sweeney earlier in the day, however, as she lost on a unanimous decision to Italy’s Roberta Bonatti.
Sunday, the opening day of competition, saw a tough start for the Irish team, with Dean Clancy, Eugene McKeever and Thomas Maughan bowing out.
European U22 champion Clancy, competing at 63.5kg in Sofia, lost out to Abdal Serik of Kazakhstan, Mullaghbawn’s McKeever lost out to Frenchman Hugo Grau after a battling performance, while Cavan super-heavy Maughan was beaten by Lithuanian Jonas Jazevicius on a unanimous decision.
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IRELAND TO FACE SCOTLAND AT CORPUS CHRISTI
AN Irish U22 select will take on their Scottish counterparts in a series of test matches at Corpus Christi Boxing Club in west Belfast on Thursday night.
Both countries are currently preparing for the European U22 Championships, which take place in Croatia from March 11-24, and hopefuls will have the opportunity to sharpen their skills against international class opponents.
Due to travel on Sunday, Storm Eunice delayed the Scottish team’s arrival until last night, and they will participate in a training camp at the Ulster High Performance unit in Jordanstown until Friday.
Thursday’s show - which is free of charge to spectators - will also showcase some of County Antrim’s up-and-coming talent from 7pm-8pm, with the Ireland v Scotland test matches from 8pm-10pm.
