Michaela Walsh is now a double Olympian, having contested at both Tokyo, and Paris.
She contested her featherweight Last 16 bout against southpaw, Bulgaria’s Svetlana Kamenova Staneva. These boxers haven’t met before – Svetlana spent a portion of her career contesting at light. She’s previously boxed Katie Taylor and Finland’s Mira Potkonen. All of her keynote achievements are at feather: World bronze, European Games silver, European Union gold and 2 European Championships silver. This was a cagey encounter, in which Michaela gave her all. Judges scored the bout 27:30; 27:30; 27:30; 27:30; 28:29.
“I felt it was a good enough performance,” Walsh said. “The first round was very, very cagey. Coming back in 5-0 down then was a bit frustrating. I was sort of chasing it after that. I felt I had a very good second and third round and felt the scoring didn’t reflect how close the fight actually was.
“I could have thrown a lot more punches but I was wary because when I was going in with my flurries she was very good on the counter. I was very unfortunate probably to meet her in the first round.”
The last of Ireland’s boxing team to take to the North Paris Arena, Walsh was asked if she was affected by some of the apparently harsh decisions they had received. “If I’m being honest no, but I’m obviously very disappointed for a lot of my teammates. I feel a lot of them were really hard done by – most of them actually. I don’t know what way they’re judging, there just didn’t seem to be any consistency but that’s out of our control. All we can control is what we do in the ring and whatever the five judges decide outside of that is all that can happen.”
Day 8 – August 3rd
There’s a re-run of the Tokyo 2020 lightweight final in the Paris 2024 semi final.
Defending champion, Kellie Harrington, takes on the silver medalist Beatriz Ferreira, with both boxers already assured of a bronze medal.
Kellie is scheduled to be in the ring at 9.08pm. Irish time.
Tournament Schedule
Boxing from July 27th to August 3rd takes place at the North Paris Arena. Boxing from August 4th to 10th takes place at Roland Garros. August 5th is a rest day at the tournament.
Morning sessions begin at 10am, Irish time.
Afternoon sessions begin at 2.30pm, Irish time
Evening sessions begin at 7pm, Irish time.
July 27th Round of 32: W54kg, W60kg, M63.5kg & M80kg.
July 28th Round of 32: W50kg, W66kg, M57kg, M71kg, M92kg % M92+kg.
July 29th Last 16 in M63.5, 92 & 92+kg, and W60kg
July 30th Last 16 in M51 & M80kg, and W54 & W57kg
July 31st Last 16 M57 & 71kg, and W75kg, plus QF of W60kg
August 1st QF of M63.5 & 92kg, last 16 W50 & 66kg, QF of W54kg
August 2nd QF of M51, 80 & +92kg, and last 16 W57kg
August 3rd QF of M57 & 71kg, and W50 & 66kg, SF of W60kg
August 4th SF of M51, 63.5, 80 & 92kg,QF W57 & 75kg, SF of W54kg
August 5th rest day
August 6th SF of M71kg, SF W50 & 66kg, and W60kg final
August 7th SF M92+kg & W57kg, Finals of M63.5 & 80kg
August 8th SF M57kg & W75kg, Finals M51kg and W54kg
August 9th Finals of M71 & 92kg, Finals of W50 & 66kg
August 10th Finals of M57 & 92+kg, Finals of W57 & 75kg
Draws
All draws are available here and here
Watch
RTE will have significant coverage of the Games on RTE 2, RTE Player, online, on Radio and through the RTE app. Full details are available here
The full Games streaming service for all sports is here:
Team Ireland Boxing
Athletes:
Kellie Harrington (Dublin) Women’s 60kg
Aidan Walsh (Belfast) Men’s 71kg
Aoife O’Rourke (Castlerea) Women’s -75kg
Daina Moorehouse (Bray) Women’s -50kg
Dean Clancy (Sligo) Men’s 63.5kg
Grainne Walsh (Tullamore) Women’s -66kg
Jude Gallagher (Newtownstewart, Co. Tyrone) Men’s -57kg
Jennifer Lehane (Ashbourne, Co. Meath) Women’s -54kg
Jack Marley (Sallynoggin, Dublin) Men’s -92kg
Michaela Walsh (Belfast) Women’s -57kg
Staff:
Tricia Heberle – Performance Director & Team Leader
Zauri Antia – Head Coach
Damian Kennedy – Coach
Lynne McEnery – Coach
James Doyle – Coach
Jim Clover – Doctor
Lorcan McGee – Physio
Paula Fitzpatrick – Physiologist