Tokyo Olympics: Ireland's Kellie Harrington and Aoife O'Rourke book Games berths
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Kellie Harrington (right) dominated her contest with France's Maiva Hamadouche
Ireland's Kellie Harrington and Aoife O'Rourke secured Olympic Games spots after producing impressive unanimous wins at the European qualifiers.
2018 lightweight world champion Harrington, 31, beat France's IBF super-featherweight professional champion Maiva Hamadouche in Paris.
Harrington earned a 29-26, 29-28, 29-27, 29-28, 29-28 success.
European middleweight champion O'Rourke recovered from losing the first round to beat Poland's Elzbieta Wojcik.
The Pole deservedly edged the first round 10-9 on all five judges' cards but helped by a point deduction against Wojcik for repeatedly holding the Irishwoman, O'Rourke produced a brilliant recovery to earn a merited victory.
With O'Rourke going on the attack as she worked superbly to the body, she took the second round 10-9 on all five cards, with the point deduction still to be factored into the Pole's score.
Despite blowing hard, Wojcik continued to look dangerous as she produced occasional big rights and lefts but the Irishwoman forced the Pole to take a standing count with just over a minute left as she completed a 29-27, 29-26, 29-27, 29-27, 29-27 win.
O'Rourke's victory repeated her 2019 European Championship final win over Wojcik.
Already-qualified Irvine loses quarter-final as Brennan faces box-off
Also in the evening session, Belfast flyweight Brendan Irvine, who had already booked his Tokyo spot, was beaten by Spain's Gabriel Escobar is a hugely entertaining contest.
Irvine, 25, appeared to edge the opening round as he produced a stand-out uppercut but the highly-skilled Spaniard was judged a 10-9 victor on all five cards.
The Irishman could have no real argument about the remainder of the bout as the slick Spaniard produced impressive hand speed and footwork to take a deserved unanimous victory.
Ireland's light-heavyweight Emmett Brennan missed out on an Olympic spot as he came up short against Croatia's Luka Plantic in their light-heavyweight quarter-final.
Having survived a standing count in the opening round, Brennan battled back with strong right hands in the second. But seven-time national champion Plantic proved too strong as he secured a unanimous points win.
Brennan still has a chance to qualify, as he now faces a box-off for a place in the top six that would guarantee him an Olympic place.
Earlier, Ireland's fighters endured a difficult afternoon on the second day of the qualifying tournament.
Lightweight George Bates was on the wrong side of a split-decision as his Olympic dream was ended in a brilliant contest with Javid Chalabiyev.
Heavyweight Kiril Afanasev and super-heavyweight Gytis Lisinskas also came up short in their bouts.
George Bates lost a 3-2 split decision to 2013 bantamweight world champion Javid Chalabiyev
Needing just one more win to secure an Olympic berth, Dubliner Bates came up against stiff opposition in the form of former world champion Chalabiyev.
The Irishman edged the opening round but Chalabiyev fought back with a relentless flurry of shots in the decisive third round.
The Azerbaijan fighter claimed a 3-2 split on the judges cards to advance to the quarter-finals and book his place at a second Olympics.
It was a similarly disappointing afternoon for Irish heavyweight Kiril Afanasev, who came up against the heavily-fancied Enmanuel Reyes Pla.
After a shaky start the Spaniard controlled the contest to claim a comfortable points win and move to within one victory of a place in Tokyo.
Lisinskas too faded following a promising start and in the end offered little resistance as Bulgarian Petar Rumenov Belberov eased into the next round.