| 16-03-2012, 20:17 | #436 |
|
Moderator
 |
There was disappointment for Paddy Barnes in his light-flyweight semi-final as he suffered a 15-12 reversal to Hamza Touba of Germany. Barnes seems to be missing that competitive edge that saw him go on to become one of the top light-flyweight fighters in the world, winning the European and Commonwealth titles in 2010. He was injured for last year's Europeans and had to pull out and this no doubt had a knock-on effect on his World Championship campaign in Baku where he bowed out in the early stages. Hopefully he can turn his fortunes around for the Olympic qualifiers in Trabzon next month.
|
|
|
Advertisement
|
|
|
| 16-03-2012, 20:52 | #437 |
|
Moderator
|
Awesome news coming through from Rio where our modern pentathletes are in pursuit of Olympic qualifying points at the second leg of the 2012World Cup Series. After history was made last week in Charlotte, Ireland will once again have both a male and female representative in the final of a World Cup event. Arthur Lanigan-O'Keeffe has joined Natalya Coyle in this weekend's final by coming through his heat today, placing 11th, finishing inside the top 12 qualifying positions. This is very good news for Arthur and for the Irish team as it means that he will pick up more vital Olympic ranking points to help propel him up the leaderboard further. The higher he can place in Sunday's final, the more points he will put in the bag and help push him towards London 2012. Eanna Bailey had a great competition also, finishing 17th in his heat. Unfortunately he missed out on a final spot by 5 places but his rising presence on the international scene bodes very well for the future. The sport of Modern Pentathlon is experiencing a sort of Renaissance in Ireland and there are very positive signs that by 2016 and beyond, we can look to have some very decent results in international competitions. Well done to all involved with the sport I say, they are obviously doing something right. Hopefully they can push on and make a big impact in the near future.
Last edited by Dan man; 16-03-2012 at 20:57. |
|
|
| Thanks from: |
| 16-03-2012, 21:23 | #438 |
|
Moderator
|
Ireland's Joe Ward is the only Irish boxer who will fight for a title at the Chemistry Cup in Halle, Germany this weekend. Ward overcame Carlos Gongora of Ecuador 15-8 to book his place in tomorrow's light-heavyweight final where he will meet the supremely talented Russian Egor Mekhontsev, the 2009 World Champion and 2-time European heavyweight champion. He is also the current world bronze medalist at light-heavyweight. What a mouth-watering prospect this match is, really looking forward to seeing the outcome.
Irish welterweight Adam Nolan was beaten in his semi-final this evening by German Arayk Marutjan. He lost the bout 21-14. The performances from the Irish boxers here is extremely encouraging, with 4 bronze medals and at least another silver depending on how Ward gets on tomorrow, our guys are in a great position heading into the Trabzon Olympic qualifiers in April. This tournament is as difficult as they come so this is ideal preparation heading into those crunch qualifiers. Last edited by Dan man; 16-03-2012 at 21:25. |
|
|
| 17-03-2012, 14:24 | #439 |
|
Moderator
|
The Irish women's hockey team have started off in impressive style in their Olympic qualifiers with a 5-1 drubbing of France. Next up for the Irish is a meeting with Russia tomorrow afternoon at 12:30p.m.
Last edited by Dan man; 18-03-2012 at 23:42. |
|
|
| 17-03-2012, 14:45 | #440 |
|
Moderator
|
Irish light-heavyweight Joe Ward has won gold at the Chemistry Cup international boxing tournament this afternoon. He claimed the title in impressive fashion by defeating the very talented Mekhontsev of Russia, the current world bronze medalist and former world champion at heavyweight and twice European champion at that weight also. Ward won the bout 20-14. After round 1 he was ahead 7-5 and built a 14-11 lead by the end of the second frame. But he let loose in the last round and stretched his advantage further and never looked like losing his grip on the gold medal. This is a huge signal that Ward , if he qualifies for the Olympics, will be one to watch and will go into the competition as one of the favourites. Very exciting times for Irish amateur boxing, could be a memorable summer. Here is the report on the I.A.B.A. website:
http://www.iaba.ie/ |
|
|
|
Advertisement
|
|
|
| 17-03-2012, 17:56 | #442 | |
|
Moderator
|
Quote:
|
|
|
|
| 17-03-2012, 18:15 | #443 | |
|
Registered User
 
|
Quote:
Last edited by Carpenter; 17-03-2012 at 18:26. |
|
|
|
| 17-03-2012, 20:31 | #444 |
|
Moderator
|
Ireland's Natalya Coyle had a tough day in the final of the Modern Pentathlon World Cup in Rio, finishing well down the field in 31st place. Whilst she will no doubt be disappointed with her showing today, it is a reasonably good result in terms of her picking up more Olympic ranking points. Arthur Lanigan-O'Keeffe goes tomorrow in the men's final.
|
|
|
|
Advertisement
|
|
|
| 18-03-2012, 10:48 | #445 |
|
Moderator
|
Ireland has another Olympian this morning after Maria McCambridge achieved the qualifying standard for the women's marathon in Rome today. Her finishing time of 2hrs 36 mins 37 secs is just inside the A standard of 2:37hrs, ensuring that Ireland will have the full quota of 3 women marathon runners at the 2012 Olympics. Fantastic news. Now let's hope the men's hockey team can do the business and make it a day to remember.
|
|
|
| Thanks from: |
| 18-03-2012, 11:27 | #446 |
|
Moderator
|
Irish walker Rob Heffernan has started his season off very strongly with a 6th place finish over 20km at the Lugano Gran Prix. His time of 1:20:36hrs is his fastest over that distance for 4 years and is encouraging form as he will surely be more focussed upon the 50km this year. He has said that he wishes to compete at both distances at the Olympics but it is over the longer distance that he stands the best chance of a medal.
|
|
|
| Thanks from: |
| 18-03-2012, 14:22 | #447 |
|
Moderator
|
The Irish women's hockey team continued strongly in their Olympic qualifiers today with a comfortable 3-0 win over Russia. Ireland stay joint top of the group ahead of Tuesday's meeting with Mexico scheduled for 12:00 noon. They should have nothing to worry about with the Mexicans but the girls will be keen to put a fair few goals away to boost goal difference. So far so good.
|
|
|
| 18-03-2012, 20:37 | #450 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Moderator
|
Hard result to take for the Irish men's hockey team, their Olympic dream has been scuppered in the most cruel fashion with a last-gasp goal conceded against the Koreans. Having watched a fair bit of international hockey, a last-minute defeat is not that unusual, but it is a real sickener to watch the Irish lads Olympic hopes being shot down in those dying seconds. I hope they can somehow pick themselves back up from this and push on to bigger things, they have the talent to make an impact in international hockey and full credit has to be given to their huge efforts in Belfield over the course of the week. They have done Ireland proud.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
