Commonwealth Games: NI's medals haul up to 15 after wins for boxing quartet

Northern Ireland equalled their record medal haul at a Commonwealth Games as four more boxers guaranteed themselves a podium finish to take Team NI's tally to 15.

Dylan Eagleson, Michaela Walsh, Aidan Walsh and Amy Broadhurst all won their quarter-finals at The NEC on Thursday.

They will return to the ring on Saturday as they look to secure a shot at gold in the semi-finals, but their quarter-final success was enough to see NI surpass the 12 medals they won at the Games on the Gold Coast in 2018.

Birmingham 2022 now joins Edinburgh 1986 as Team NI's joint-most successful Commonwealths.

Light-flyweight Clepson dos Santos' hopes of also securing a medal were dashed as he was stopped by Wales' Jake Dodd in the closing seconds of their quarter-final, as the Welshman looked set to take the verdict in any case.

World champion Broadhurst eases through as Walsh impresses

Having dropped to 60kg for the competition, world light-welterweight champion Broadhurst confirmed her standing as favourite to take home gold from the division as she eased through the gears before stopping Zambia's Felistus Nkandu in the final round.

It was a relatively slow start from Broadhurst, 25, before a couple of thunderous lefts late in the opening round catapulted her opponent back.

The Northern Ireland fighter forced a standing count in the second with another huge left, and again in the third with a right before a flurry of body shots saw the referee end the contest just over halfway through round three.

Olympic bronze medallist Aidan Walsh, 25, was faced with a tricky light-middleweight draw in the form of England's European champion Harris Akbar, but used all of his considerable experience to frustrate Akbar, who was not allowed to settle into a rhythm.

Walsh danced around the ring, switch-hitting between orthodox and southpaw, scoring a shot before moving to the outside and doing enough to lead on three of the judges cards after the first two rounds.

It was by no means a classic encounter, but that suited Walsh just fine as he smartly kept out of trouble despite a cut above his left eye caused by a clash of heads.

Michaela Walsh was rarely troubled as she dominated her quarter-final against

Earlier, Walsh's sibling and two-time silver medallist Michaela overcame Botswana's Keamogetse Kenosi in their featherweight contest.

The Team NI flagbearer, 29, is hoping it is third time lucky at the Games having lost finals in 2014 and 2018.

Her display on Thursday confirmed her status as one of the favourites in the featherweight division. She totally nullified Kenosi's reach advantage after the 25-year-old had initially found success some success with her right hands in the opening minute.

However, Walsh was able to score regularly with body shots before moving out of range and tempting Kenosi into some wild, easy-evadable swings.

It was a similar story for Bangor's Eagleson, who kept his composure amid immediate and intense pressure from Sigauque, allowing his opponent to step forward and walk into his well-timed shots.

The St Paul's teenager's success sets up an intriguing contest with Scotland's Matthew McHale on Saturday afternoon, while Walsh faces Phiwokuhle Mnguni of South Africa for a place in her third straight final.

Dylan Eagleson was able to celebrate clinching a Commonwealth Games medal after comfortably overcoming Armando Sigauque of Mozambique

Dos Santos, the youngest member of NI's boxing squad having only turned 18 in December, came out firing in a fast-paced light-flyweight quarter-final against Welshman Dodd.

A pinpoint left-right combo from the Northern Irishman forced Dodd to take a standing count in the opening round as he took a lead on three of the judges' cards.

However as the fight wore on Dos Santos struggled to keep the pace as Dodd grew into the bout, edging the second round before stalking down his exhausted opponent in his third and forcing three standing counts, the last of which saw the referee wave the contest off with 11 seconds left.

On Wednesday, Carly McNaul, Jude Gallagher and Eireann Nugent had already ensured boxing medals for Northern Ireland by winning their quarter-finals.

Bowler Kelly reaches singles quarter-finals

Elsewhere, Gary Kelly won two bowls games on Thursday to top his singles group and progress to the quarter-finals stage.

A 21-13 victory over Canada's Ryan Bester in his final game ensured top spot for the Ballymoney player.

However, the women's triples' medal hopes ended as they were beaten 25-11 by England in their quarter-final after earlier losing their final group game against Australia 19-9.

In table tennis, Sophie Early has progressed to the last 16 of the women's singles but she and partner Owen Cathcart exited from the mixed doubles after losing to an Indian pair.

Cathart and James Skelton also bowed out of the men's doubles at the last-32 stage as did Paul McCreery and Zak Wilson, who lost 3-0 to Canada after earlier beating a Malaysia pair 3-2.

In the cycling time trials, Darren Rafferty finished eighth in the men's event with Joanna Patterson, who last competed in the 2010 Games as a 400m runner, 19th in the women's competition.

In diving, Tokyo Olympian Tanya Watson finished 10th in the women's 10m platform final.

NI netballers, meanwhile, secured their first victory in Birmingham courtesy of a 41-33 win over Trinidad & Tobago.

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