London 2012 Olympian Michael Conlan and David Oliver Joyce guaranteed Ireland at least two bronze medals at the 39th Chemistry Cup following quarter-finals wins in Halle, Germany this morning.
Conlan dropped Turkish flyweight Erdal Inanci with a flashing right in the third round en route to a 16-10 win at the Maritim Hotel.
Joyce shared the first round (4-4) of a cracking lightweight contest with Germany’s Arthur Brill, but slipped 8-7 behind by the end of the second.
However, the St Michael’s Athy man won the final frame 9-8 before having his hand raised in victory on accepted scores following a 16-16 tie. (No countback scores are available).
Middleweight Darren O’Neill bowed out of the tournament early this afternoon following a 14-9 reversal to Danabek Suzhanov of Kazakhstan. Suzhanov was 4-2 and 9-5 ahead at the end of rounds one and two.
Paddy Barnes, meanwhile, is also guaranteed at least bronze after beating China’s Zhonglin Wu at light-flyweight this afternoon.
The 2012 European champion worked hard throughout this three-rounder to earn a 20-14 verdict.
Wu has replaced Olympic and World champion Zou Shiming, who has moved up to flyweight (52Kg) for this tournament, in the 49Kg class on the Chinese team.
Bray BC welterweight Adam Nolan joined Conlan, Joyce and Barnes on the medals podium with an 18-12 decision over Koeroglu Abdulkadir of Turkey.
Nolan, who celebrated his 25th birthday last Sunday, had a particularly good second round in this contest, firing home some telling uppercuts to command a 12-8 advantage at the end of the frame on the way to his second win in 24 hours.
Belfast heavyweight Steven Ward, meanwhile, lost out in his bid to reach the last-four after going down to a 16-9 defeat to Chinese southpaw Xuanxuan Wang
European champion Joe Ward got Ireland back to winning ways with an emphatic 20-9 win over
Elshod Rasulov of Uzbekistan.
The World number three never looked back from opening up a 5-4 lead at the end of the first round of this contest on his way to a very impressive win against a vastly experienced opponent.
Tipperary super-heavyweight Con Sheehan was in against China’s 2008 Olympic silver medalist
Zhilie Zhang and lost out 14-9.
Friday’s semi-finals begin at 2pm and 6.30pm (Irish time). The finals will be held Saturday.
39th Chemistry Cup Halle, Germany March 14th/18th
(no countback scores available)
March 14th Preliminaries
75Kg: Darren O’Neill (Ireland) beat Andrei Juratoni (Romania) 16-13
64Kg: Ross Hickey (Ireland) lost to Artem Harutyunyan (Germany) 9-21
69Kg: Adam Nolan (Ireland) beat Vasili Belous (Moldova) 10-9
81Kg: Joe Ward (Ireland) beat Victor Cotujanskii (Moldova) 14-5
March 15th Q/Finals
10am session
52Kg: Michael Conlan (Ireland) beat Erdal Inanci (Turkey) 16-10
60Kg: David Oliver Joyce (Ireland) beat Artur Brill (Germany) 16-16 c/b
75Kg: Darren O’Neill (Ireland) lost to Danabek Suzhanov (Kazakhstan) 9-14
2pm session
49Kg: Paddy Barnes (Ireland) beat Zhonglin Wu (China) 20-12
69Kg: Adam Nolan (Ireland) beat Koeroglu Abdulkadir (Turkey) 18-12
91Kg: Steven Ward (Ireland) lost to Xuanxuan Wang (China) 9-16
6-30pm session
81Kg: Joe Ward (Ireland) beat Elshod Rasulov (Uzbekistan) 20-9
91+Kg: Con Sheehan (Ireland) lost to Zhilie Zhang (China) 9-14
(Irish times apply)
Irish squad
49Kg: Paddy Barnes (Holy Family)
52Kg: Michael Conlan (St John Bosco)
60Kg: David Oliver Joyce (St Michael’s Athy)
64Kg: Ross Hickey (Grangecon)
69Kg: Adam Nolan (Bray)
75Kg: Darren O’Neill (Paulstown)
81Kg: Joe Ward (Moate)
91Kg: Steven Ward (Monkstown, Antrim)
91+Kg: Con Sheehan (Clonmel)
