26/07/2024
Heartbreak for Men’s Rugby Sevens beaten by Fiji in quarter-final, 5 Irish boxers benefit from byes into last 16 in Boxing draw and Taoiseach Simon Harris visits Team Ireland in the Olympic village.
In last night’s quarter-final the Men’s Rugby Sevens team were beaten 19-15 by reigning Olympic champions Fiji ending their hopes of contesting the medals at these Games. James Topping’s side will now contest the 5th – 8thplacings with a game against USA on Saturday afternoon (July 27th).
Following last night’s draw five of the ten strong Irish boxing team will benefit from byes into the last 16 of the competition.
Rugby Sevens
Ireland Men's Sevens endured heartbreak in Paris on Thursday night as a narrow 19-15 defeat to back to back Olympic champions Fiji ended their medal hopes at a sold out Stade de France.
Chay Mullins scored a first-half double for Ireland to give James Topping's men the half-time lead (10-7) in tonight's quarter-final clash. When Down’s Zac Ward finished brilliantly in the corner at the start of the second (15-7), Ireland harboured big ambitions of progressing through to Saturday's semi-finals.
However Fiji - the gold medallists in both Rio and Tokyo - hit back with two quickfire scores to complete a second-half comeback and book their place in the final four, while Ireland drop down to the 5-8 place play-off matches when the Sevens resumes in Saint Denis on Saturday.
Giving his reaction post-match Ireland head coach James Topping said; “It's obviously a bitterly disappointing result for us because we came to Paris with ambitions of a podium finish. We controlled large parts of the game and put ourselves in a strong position but a couple of mistakes cost us dearly, and unfortunately against teams like Fiji you are going to be punished.
“The group are devastated because we've worked hard over the year building into this campaign, but we still have work to do because we want to finish strongly and on a high. We have a rest day tomorrow and we'll dust ourselves down to come back better for the placing matches on Saturday afternoon.”
Ireland will now face USA in their placing match at 2pm Irish time (27th July), while afterwards hosts France will face South Africa in the first semi-final, with Fiji set to take on Australia in the second.
Boxing
The much-anticipated draw took place earlier this evening at the North Paris Arena attended by Irish Head Coach Zauri Antia, coach Damian Kennedy, and Performance Director Tricia Herberle. Three of Team Ireland’s boxers were seeded in that draw; Lightweight (60kg) Kellie Harrington 3rd seed, Middleweight (75kg) Aoife O’Rourke 2ndseed, and Heavyweight (92kg) Jack Marley 7th seed.
There were byes for defending lightweight champion Kellie Harrington (60kg), Wicklow flyweight Daina Moorehouse (50kg), Bantamweight Jennifer Lehane (54kg), featherweight Michaela Walsh (57kg) and in the men’s draw fellow featherweight Jude Gallagher (57kg).
Aoife O'Rourke, who was 2nd seed in the 75kg, did not benefit from a bye because there were only 16 in the Middleweight division and she faces a very familiar opponent in Poland's Elzbieta Wojcik.
Offaly welterweight Grainne Walsh (66kg) is the only Irish woman who will box in the round of 32 where she faces Hungary's Anna Luca Hamori.
In the last 16 Kellie Harrington will face either an Italian (Alessia Mesiano) or Turk (Gizem Ozer) on Monday afternoon (29th July). Daina Moorehouse faces French fighter Wassila Lkhadiri who is seeded 7th, Jennifer Lehane faces 8th seed Yuan Chang of China, as does Michaela Walsh in facing Bulgaria’s Svetlana Staneva.
Jude Gallagher (57kg) was the only male Irish boxer to benefit from a bye, lining him up against Carlo Paalam of the Philippines in the last 16. Lightweight Dean Clancy (63.5kg) will face Obada Alkasbeh of Jordan in the preliminary round (of 32) and he is first of the Irish into action on Saturday.
Welterweight Aidan Walsh (71kg) meets Makan Traore of France in the preliminary round and, with only 16 in the heavyweight division Dubliner Jack Marley (92kg) will face Poland's Mateusz Bereznicki in his opening bout.
Afterwards Team Ireland Head coach Zaur Antia said: “There is no easy fight in the Olympic Games. Every fight will need the full focus of our boxers, just as they do at every competition.”
With ten Irish boxers taking to the ring, this is Team Ireland’s largest boxing team since Rome of 1960 and only Australia (12) and Ukbekistan (11) will have more boxers in Paris.
Ireland is also one of only three countries to have qualified a boxer in all of the six women’s weights.
Taoiseach’s visit
Earlier today Taoiseach Simon Harris spent the morning in the Olympic village meeting Team Ireland athletes and support staff. Road cyclist Ryan Mullen was on hand to tour the village and the Irish set-up with him, as was swimmer Daniel Wiffen and several of the boxers.
The Taoiseach also met with designer of Team Ireland’s Ceremony suitings Laura Weber who kindly gifted the Wicklow native with his embroidered country crest similar to the ones the athletes will wear on their sleeve to the Opening Ceremony. Tomorrow, before attending that much-anticipated Opening Ceremony the Taoiseach will meet with more of Team Ireland at the Irish Cultural Centre in the heart of the city.
Flagbearers
Tomorrow Team Ireland will announce their Flagbearers for the spectacular Opening Ceremony of these Olympic Games.
RESULTS Thursday 25th July 2024
Men’s Rugby Sevens, Pool A, Ireland 12 - 14 New Zealand
Men’s Rugby Sevens, Quarter-final; Ireland 15 - 19 Fiji
SCHEDULE Friday 26th July 2024
(All times listed are Irish times)
7pm Opening Ceremony, live on RTE2
BOXING DRAW
Women
50kg Daina Moorehouse v Wassila Lkhadiri (FRA) (Last 16, August 1st)
54kg Jennifer Lehane v Yuan Chang (CHN) (Last 16, July 30th)
57kg Michaela Walsh v Svetlana Staneva (BUL) (Last 16, August 2nd)
60kg Kellie Harrington v Alessia Mesiano (ITA) or Gizem Ozer (Turk) (Last 16, July 29th)
66kg Grainne Walsh v Anna Luca Hamori (HUN) (Preliminary Rd, July 28th)
75kg Aoife O’Rourke v Elzbieta Wojcik (POL) (Last 16, July 31st)
Men
57kg Jude Gallagher v Carlo Paalam (PHI) (Last 16, July 31st)
63.5kg Dean Clancy v Obada Alkasbeh (JOR) (Preliminary Rd, July 27th)
71kg Aidan Walsh v Makan Traore (FRA) (Preliminary Rd, July 28th)
92kg Jack Marley v Mateusz Bereznicki (POL)
