Kurt Walker won on his Olympic debut after beating Spain’s Jose Quiles to get Ireland off to a winning start at the Tokyo Olympics in the early hours of this morning.
The Antrim featherweight took the first 10-9 across the board but Quiles bounced back to win the second 4-1, leaving Walker ahead on just one of the scorecards.
However, Walker won the last round on all cards to post a unanimous decision victory- 29-28,29-28,30-27,29-28,29-28.
He’ll now meet Uzbek No.1 seed Mirazizbek Mitzakhalilov in the last 16 on Wednesday.
Walker finished the fight with a cut over his right eye following a lively battle with the Spaniard.
Tokyo Olympics
July 24th
Last 32
57kg Kurt Walker (Ireland) beat Jose Quiles (Spain) 5-0
July 25th
Last 32
81kg Emmet Brennan (Ireland) v Dilshod Ruzmetov (Uzbekistan)
July 26th
Last 32
52kg Brendan Irvine (Ireland) v Carlo Paalm (Philippines)
Last 16
57kg Michaela Walsh (Ireland) v Irma Testa (Italy) or Lludmila Voronstova (ROC)
July 27th
Last 16
69kg Aidan Walsh (Ireland) v Albert Menque (Cameroon) or Thabiso Dlanini (Swz)
July 28th
Last 16
75kg Aoife O’Rourke (Ireland) v Li Qian (China)
57kg Kurt Walker (Ireland) v Mirazizbek Mitzakhalilov (Uzbekistan)
July 30th
Last 16
60hk Kellie Harrington (Ireland) v Rebecca Nicoli (Italy) or Esmerelda Falcon (Mexico)