THE all-important draw for the Olympic boxing tournament took place on Thursday evening and it proved to be a mixed bag for the 10 Irish fighters bidding for glory.
Action gets underway on Saturday at Roland-Garros, but some will have to bide their time before their challenge gets underway.
First up on Saturday will be lightweight Dean Clancy who has a round-of-32 meeting with Jordan’s Obada Al-Kasbeh, hoping to get through to a showdown with host fighter Sofiane Oumiha.
Aidan Walsh won bronze in Tokyo and had the benefit of a bye in the opening round, but that is not the case this time as the Belfast man has been handed a very tough route back to the podium.
The Holy Family man secured the final spot available at 71kg through the Second World Qualifier, but is up against France’s Makan Traore on Sunday morning. Traore won bronze last summer’s European Games and the prize for the victor is a meeting with the gold medallist from that tournament, Nikolai Terteryan of Denmark.
Walsh’s older sister, Michaela, is also set to box at her second Olympic Games, but will have to wait until next Friday before she is in action having been handed a bye in the women’s featherweight division.
Her opponent, Svetlana Staneva from Bulgaria is highly decorated with her latest triumph coming in this year’s European Championships when claiming gold, having also won silver at last year’s European Games and bronze at the World Championships.
Tyrone featherweight Jude Gallagher was also the beneficiary of a bye in the last 16, but he has been handed a tough task on Wednesday when he face’s Brendan Irvine’s conquerer from Tokyo, Carlo Paalam of the Philippines.
There are two Irish fighters in action on Sunday with Dublin heavyweight Jack Marley paired with Poland’s Mateusz Bereznicki, while Tullamore’s Grainne Walsh faces Hungary’s Anna Hamori with the winner going onto face Australia’s Marissa Williamson.
Kellie Harrington is the defending lightweight champion and will have the opportunity to run her eye over Monday’s opposition as she takes on the winner of Alessia Mesiano (Italy) and Gizem Ozer (Turkey).
The remainder of the Irish team will have to sit it out until the middle of next week before they step through the ropes as number two women’s middleweight seed Aoife O’Rouke faces Elzbieta Wojcik (Poland) in last 16 on Wednesday. They are no strangers to each other having boxed five times int he past with O’Rourke coming out on top each time.
Jenny Lehane is also out on Wednesday having been given a bye into the 54kg last 16 alongside China’s Yuan Chang.
Bray flyweight Daina Moorehouse also enjoys a direct entry into the last 16, but lying in wait on Thursday is number seven seed, Wassila Lkhadiri from France. Lkhadiri, who has already won two fights as a pro, took silver at last year’s European Games and bronze at the World Championships.