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Dublin Live
Dublin Live
Sport
David Donnelly

Tokyo gold medallist Kellie Harrington secures at least bronze on ring return

Kellie Harrington is guaranteed at least a bronze medal at the Strandja Cup in Bulgaria after coming through her quarter-final by unanimous decision.

The Olympic gold medallist made it two wins from two on her return to the ring as she comfortably outboxed Kazakhstan's Aidana Zabynbekova to make it to the final four.

Lightweight (60kg) Harrington took one of the scorecards with a clean sweep of 30-25, while the four remaining judges scored it 30-27.

She made equally light work of Sweden’s Agnes Alexiusson in her last 16 tie, taking all rounds on four scorecards and her opponent awarded one round on the fifth.

Harrington will compete on Friday for a place in the final of prestigious tournament in Sofia, which is now in its 73rd year.

Fellow Olympian Aoife O’Rourke is also guaranteed a medal in the middleweight (75kg) division as she eased past France’s Davina Michael on all five judges’ scorecards.

The Castlerea boxer was at her destructive best as she cleaned up the cards with scores of two 30-26s, two 30-27s and one 29-27 and will also return to the ring on Friday.

There was disappointment for another Tokyo Olympian Michaela Walsh, however, as the Belfast bantamweight (54kg) lost a unanimous decision to Russian Liudmila Vorontsova.

And Carndonagh flyweight Caitlin Fryers was out of luck as she was unable to compete and conceded her quarter-final.

The Strandja Cup is the last major competition for Ireland’s boxers before the women’s World Championships and men’s Europeans in May.

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