GB Boxing have maintained their unbeaten run at the European Amateur Championships in Samakov, Bulgaria while Ireland suffered their first defeat over the weekend.
GB’s Troy Williamson, who replaced an injured Anthony Fowler at middleweight, won his preliminary bout against Vladislavs Jackals of Latvia on a split decision on Saturday. He will box Damian Biacho Bolequia of Spain later today [August 10].
At welterweight, Ireland’s 2012 Olympian Adam Nolan outpointed Turkey’s Onder Sipal, who has already qualified for Rio 2016, to progress to the next round where he will meet No 1 seed Radzhab Butaev of Russia.
On Sunday, two of GB Boxing’s representatives picked up wins and progressed to the next stages of the competition.
Harvey Horn became the first GB boxer to reach the quarter-finals after earning a unanimous decision over German Serge Neumann at 49kg. He will face Poland’s Dawid Jagodzinski on Wednesday.
Light-heavyweight Joshua Buatsi edged out Kosovan Armend Xhoxhaj over three to also win unanimously and moves on to the next stage of the preliminaries where he will meet Ainar Karlson of Estonia on Tuesday.
Also at 81kgs, Ireland’s Joe Ward won every round against Russia’s Idris Shakhmanov to move on to the Round of 16.
In his second bout of the tournament, Irish Dean Gardiner lost his super-heavyweight contest to No 1 seed Filip Hrgovic of Croatia, who has already qualified for Rio 2016.
The European Championships is part of the qualification pathway for Rio 2016 and boxers that finish in the top six in their weight class in Sofia will secure a place at the AIBA World Championships in Doha in September 2015, which is a qualifying event for next year’s Olympic Games.
