Harrington guaranteed medal after quarter-final win
Harrington is two wins away from defending the lightweight title she won in Tokyo three years ago
- Published
Defending Olympic champion Kellie Harrington is guaranteed at least a bronze medal at the Paris 2024 Games after beating Colombia's Angie Valdes Pana in the quarter-final of the women's 60kg division.
Tokyo gold medallist Harrington secured a unanimous 5-0 decision win and advances to Saturday's semi-finals, where she will face either Brazil's Beatriz Ferreira - who she beat in the Tokyo final - or the Netherlands' Chelsey Heijnen.
The 34-year-old Dubliner led 10-9 on all five judges scorecards after the first round and was able to control the fight until the end.
Harrington joins swimmers Daniel Wiffen (gold) and Mona McSharry (bronze) as Team Ireland's medallists so far in Paris.
Harrington's victory came on what was another otherwise difficult day for Irish boxers.
Jude Gallagher's Olympic debut ended in defeat to Carlo Paalam of the Philippines in the men's 57kg division.
Later, European champion Aoife O'Rourke lost a split decision to Poland's Elzbieta Wojcik in the last-16 of the middleweight division.
The 27-year-old had beaten Wojcik in their previous six meetings but lost a messy encounter in which the Polish fighter was repeatedly warned for holding and was docked a point in the first round.
The Korean and American judges gave every round to Wojcik, while the Dutch judge did likewise with O鈥橰ourke.
The Hungarian judge gave two rounds to O鈥橰ourke and one to Wojcik, while the Canadian favoured the Pole with a card showing 28-28.