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Olympic boxers learn their route to gold

Ireland's Olympic boxing hopefuls have learned the routes they must take if they are bring home m...



Olympic boxers learn their rou...
Off The Ball Radio

Olympic boxers learn their route to gold

Ireland's Olympic boxing hopefuls have learned the routes they must take if they are bring home medals from the Rio games.

Reigning Olympic women's lightweight champion, Katie Taylor, has received a bye into the last eight of the competition. She will face the winner of the bout between Brazil's Araujo or Finland's Potkonen in the quarter-final.

Winning an Olympic gold medal is rarely easy, and Taylor is on course to meet the two women who have defeated her already this year if she is to replicate her London achievement.

If results go according to seeding, Taylor is due to face Azerbaijan's Yana Alekseevna in the semi-final and France's Estelle Mossely in the final.

Alekseevna defeated the Bray native at the semi-final stage of a qualifying event in Turkey in April, going down 39-37 on all three scorecards.

Mossely stunned Taylor in her attempt for a 6th straight world title when she took a razor-thin decision at the championship semi-finals.

Ireland's only athlete to win medals at two separate Olympic games, Paddy Barnes, has also received a bye into the last 16 of the men's light-flyweight division.  

He is not due to meet the other top ranked competitors in his division until the latter stages. Cuba's Argilagos Perez and Russia's Egorov await in the semi-final and final respectively, if the seeds win accordingly.

Brendan Irvine has received a tough route to glory, which begins with a last 32 bout against Uzbekistan's Zoirov, who is currently ranked number 8 in the AIBA world rankings. Azerbaijan's Elvin Mamishzada is the top ranked fighter in the division and Irvine would be on course to meet him in the quarter-final.

Michael Conlan also kicks off his bid to win a second Olympic medal with a bye into the last 16 of the 56 kg division.  Uzbekistan's Akhmadaliev and Cuba's Cruz Gomez are his biggest rivals, but they are on the other side of the draw and he can only face one of them.

David Oliver Joyce faces Andrique Allisop from the Seychelles in the round of 32. He is due to meet highly touted Albert Selimov in the next round.

Steven Donnelly begins his campaign in the welterweight division against Zoheir Kedache from Algeria. Morocco's Mohammed Rabaii is the highest ranked opponent in his section of the draw. Kazakhstan's Daniyar Yeleussinov awaits on the other side of the draw.

Michael O'Reilly is set to receive a bye into the last 16 of the middleweight division, although Newstalk understands that he is the boxer at the centre of the allegations concerning a failed drugs test.

Joe Ward has also received a bye into the last 16. He is on the same side of the draw as top rated Cuban La Cruz Peraza.

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