Belfast's Brendan Irvine through in qualifiers
- Published
Irvine won a silver medal at the first European Games in 2015
Belfast boxer Brendan Irvine has cleared his first hurdle at the European Olympic qualifiers in Turkey.
The 19-year-old, from the St Paul's club in Belfast, beat Germany's Hamza Touba on a unanimous decision to move into the flyweight quarter-finals.
Irvine needs to come in the top three in Samsun to be assured of a spot on the Ireland boxing team for Rio.
Olympic champion Katie Taylor had an easy win over Martina Schmaranzova of the Czech Republic at the qualifiers.
She will now face Yvonne Rasmussen of Denmark in the quarter-finals of the lightweight division on Wednesday.
Cork's Christina Desmond beat top seed Nouchka Fontijan of the Netherlands at middleweight, while Ceire Smith saw off Hungary's Virginia Barankas in the flyweight division.
Wexford's Dean Walsh suffered a split decision defeat by top seeded light-welterweight Lorenzo Sotomayor of Azerbaijan while Clonmel super-heavyweight Dean Gardiner was outpointed by Mahammadrausl Majidor, also from Azerbaijan.
- Published25 June 2015
