A proud day for Irish sport as Katie Taylor qualified for the finals of the Olympics. That and much more action brought to you by The Daily Shift’s Mark Kelly…
Katie Taylor qualifies in style for the Olympic final
Katie Taylor wins in amazing encounter
Katie Taylor won a bruising boxing quarter-final to make her way to the semi-final of the women’s lightweight category after beating Natasha Jonas. In one of the matches of the Olympics so far (both male and female) Katie took the 1st round 5-2 after a series of lighting quick jabs. The 2nd round was brutal, both fighters trading huge punches with it finishing 5-5.
The 3rd round continued the same way, however Jonas took a standing count after a smashing right hook from Katie hit her in the cheek. Katie won the round 9-4. The final round continued the blistering pace as the sound in the arena registered at 113.7 decibels, with both fighters getting great cheers, but the Irish won the battle, out-singing their British counterparts.
Taylor dealt another devastating blow to Jonas, who received another standing count. Taylor claimed the round 7-4 to win the bout 26-15 overall. She will face Mavzuna Chorieva in the semi-final.
Annalise Murphy just misses out on medal.
Irish sailing hopeful Annalise Murphy went in the medal race today in the Laser Radials. She was in tied 3rd with Van Acker of Belgium and was 1 point behind Lijia Wu and Dutch Bouwmeester. She needed to win to claim gold or 3rd to guarantee a medal. Unfortunately, it was not to be as she finished 5th. There were tears after the race as she knew she had not done enough to claim a medal. She is a real hope for the future though.
China have a slow day
China could only add one gold to their tally today. Lijia Wu was one of the 3 people to deny Annalise Murphy a historical medal by claiming gold in the women’s Laser Radial, beating off competition from Bouwmeester of Holland and Van Acker of Belgium.
Team GB keep the golds coming.
Great Britain gained two more golds on day 9. Jason Kenny beat World Champion Gregory Bauge to claim the cycling men’s individual sprint. He won 2-0, out-sprinting Bauge in both legs.
There was way more excitement in Greenwich Park as the British showjumping team beat Holland in a jumpoff. The Netherlands were favourite to claim gold, however were left sweating when Great Britain drew close. A clear round for the Dutch rider upon the aptly named “London” would have won gold, however they clipped a fence on the way around. 2 of GB’s riders went clear in the jump-off to claim gold.
Team Ireland Update
Cian O’Connor failed to qualify for the final of the individual showjumping event after scoring 3 faults on his final round. Derek Brunnett could not make the final of the trap shooting after finishing 27th after 34 competitors.
In sailing, Ryan Seaton and Matt McGovern could not make the medal race in the 49er class after finishing 14th. Ger Owens and Scott Flanagan are in 27th overall in the 470 class. The have no realistic chance of making the medal race.
However, there was some good news today in athletics. Derval O’Rourke qualified for the semi-finals of the women’s 100m hurdles as the fastest non-qualifier.
