Aoife O’Rourke bowed out of the Tokyo Olympics to China’s No. 2 seed Qian Li in Tokyo this morning.
The former World champion and Rio 2016 bronze medalist won on a unanimous decision.
Li, who detonated sharp combinations throughout, took the first round 3-2 but O’Rourke had a big second round, although the judges again went with Li by a 3-2 margin.
O’Rourke was also frustrated by the constant holding of her opponent.
The third round was equally as close with O’Rourke finding the target with lefts and Li responding with combinations but it was the 2018 World champion that advanced at the expense of the Irishwoman.
Speaking on RTE, Ken Egan and Eric Donovan hailed O’Rourke’s display.
“I thought it was a brilliant performance,” said Donovan.
Tokyo Olympics
July 24th
Last 32
57kg Kurt Walker (Ireland) beat Jose Quiles (Spain) 5-0
July 25th
Last 32
81kg Emmet Brennan (Ireland) lost to Dilshod Ruzmetov (Uzbekistan) 0-5
July 26th
Last 32
52kg Brendan Irvine (Ireland) lost to Carlo Paalam (Philippines) 1-4
Last 16
57kg Michaela Walsh (Ireland) lost to Irma Testa (Italy) 0-5
July 27th
Last 16
69kg Aidan Walsh (Ireland) beat Albert Menque (Cameroon) 5-0
July 28th
Last 16
75kg Aoife O’Rourke (Ireland) lost to Qian Li (China) 0-5
57kg Kurt Walker (Ireland) beat Mirazizbek Mitzakhalilov (Uzbekistan) 4-1
July 30th
Last 16
60hk Kellie Harrington (Ireland) v Rebecca Nicoli (Italy) or Esmerelda Falcon (Mexico)
Quarter-final
69kg Aidan Walsh (Ireland) v Mervin Clair (Mauritius) or Hussein Eashash (Jordan)
August 1
Quarter-final
57kg Kurt Walker v Duke Ragan (USA)