Irelands most likely Olympic 2012 Medals

Dan man · 15-03-2012 1:14am

Dan man · 15-03-2012 2:37pm

Irish boxers were in action on day 2 of the Chemistry Cup in Germany with Michael Conlan and David Oliver Joyce advancing to the semi-finals in their weight categories. Conlan came through his encounter with Turkish flyweight Erdal Inanci 10-6 while Joyce edged a 16-16 tie with Germany's Youth Olympic champion Arthur Brill in his lightweight contest.
Darren O'Neill however is out of the competition after he was defeated in his middleweight bout with Kazakhstan's Suzhanov on a 14-9 scoreline. The Kazak boxer is a tough fighter having reached the quarter-finals of the World Championships in Baku in 2011. O'Neill has fought some very decent opposition at the tournament, having come through yesterday's clash with the World bronze medalist from Romania.
The rest of the Irish team are in action throughout the day with Con Sheehan coming up against the Olympic silver medalist from China in the super-heavyweight division while Joe Ward is up against a very tough fighter from Uzbekistan, Elshod Rasulov, who is a former Asian Games champion.

Dan man · 15-03-2012 4:53pm

Irish Adam Nolan won his Chemistry Cup encounter with Koroglu Abdulkadir of Turkey 18-12 to secure at least bronze in the welterweight division.

Dan man · 15-03-2012 7:12pm

Irish heavyweight Steven Ward was defeated by Wang Xuanxuan, the current world bronze medalist, on a 16-9 scoreline.

Dan man · 15-03-2012 8:13pm

In Rio, at the second leg of the 2012 Modern Pentathlon World Cup series, Natalya Coyle has successfully negotiated her way through the qualifying heats and is through to yet another World Cup final. She placed 8th in her heat today and with the top 12 advancing to the final she will be there for Saturday's competition. Excellent news for Natalya and for Ireland who look well on their way to securing their first ever female modern pentathlete representative at an Olympic Games. Eanna Bailey and Arthur Lanigan-O'Keeffe are in action tomorrow in the men's heats.

Dan man · 15-03-2012 8:38pm

UPDATE: The Irish men's hockey team overcame Chile 3-0 this evening to set up an important clash with Malaysia on Paddy's Day. Ireland are now sitting at the top of the table level on points with the Koreans and 1 point ahead of Malaysia. However, with Korea having a seemingly comfortable fixture against the Russians on Saturday it means that Ireland will need a draw to secure their place in Sunday's do-or-die Olympic play-off decider. Malaysia will be a huge test on Saturday as they know that they must now beat the Irish to keep their Olympic hopes alive. So in summary, Ireland need only a draw with the Malaysians on Saturday but anything less will spell elimination and no Olympic hockey for the summer for our men. It's set up excitingly now with a big big Paddy's day coming up for the Irish, the crunch match gets underway at 3:30pm. Bring it on!

Here is the full fixture list for that all-important Olympic qualifying tournament which will be held at the National Hockey Centre, U.C.D. in the coming days (10th-18th March):

Date and Time|Fixtures
10/03/2012 (Sat.12:00)|Malaysia 5-1 Chile
10/03/2012 (Sat.14:15)|IRELAND 6-1 Russia
10/03/2012 (Sat.16:30)|Korea 8-2 Ukraine
11/03/2012 (Sun.12:30)|Malaysia 6-2 Russia
11/03/2012 (Sun.14:45)|Ukraine 0-12 IRELAND
11/03/2012 (Sun.17:00)|Korea 6-1 Chile
13/03/2012 (Tue.13:00)|Ukraine 1-5 Malaysia
13/03/2012 (Tue.15:30)|Russia 4-3 Chile
13/03/2012 (Tue.18:00)|IRELAND 1-1 Korea
15/03/2012 (Thu.13:00)|Russia 2-0 Ukraine
15/03/2012 (Thu.15:30)|Malaysia 2-3 Korea
15/03/2012 (Thu.18:00)|Chile 0-3 IRELAND
17/03/2012 (Sat.11:00)|Korea 5-1 Russia
17/03/2012 (Sat.13:15)|Chile 4-2 Ukraine
17/03/2012 (Sat.15:30)|IRELAND 1-1 Malaysia
18/03/2012 (Sun.12:00)|5th v 6th
18/03/2012 (Sun.14:30)|3rd v 4th
18/03/2012 (Sun.17:00)|1st v 2nd (OLYMPIC PLAY-OFF MATCH)

Country|W|D|L|F|A|+/-|PTS
Q Korea|4|1|0|23|7|+16|13
IRELAND|3|2|0|23|3|+20|11
Malaysia|3|1|1|19|8|+11|10
Russia|2|0|3|10|20|-10|6
Chile|1|0|4|9|20|-11|3
Ukraine|0|0|5|5|31|-26|0

knockcon · 15-03-2012 10:54pm

Dan Man you are on fire! Question. The calibre of boxer competing in the Chemistry Cup....is it Olympic Standard? The Irish lads are performaing well, but are the boxers they are competing against the same guys who they will be up against in April at Qualification?

Dan man · 15-03-2012 11:17pm

knockcon wrote: »

Dan Man you are on fire! Question. The calibre of boxer competing in the Chemistry Cup....is it Olympic Standard? The Irish lads are performaing well, but are the boxers they are competing against the same guys who they will be up against in April at Qualification?

The Chemistry Cup is a prestigious competition and indeed the calibre of boxers who the Irish guys are up against is top-notch. There are multiple Olympic, world and continental champions and medalists here and most of the top nations such as Russia, China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan are at the competition. Just look at Darren O'Neill's draw for the tournament: he was up against the current world bronze medalist Juratoni from Romania in the opening round and his reward for victory was another tough clash with the Kazak boxer who reached the quarter-finals at the Worlds and one of the best in the world in his division. So yes, the talent on display is awesome, but of course not all nations have entered the tournament (no Cuba and some other good eastern European nations are missing). But a good display here bodes very well for the qualifiers in Trabzon as this is a high quality competition.

Dan man · 15-03-2012 11:22pm

Irish light-heavyweight Joe Ward is through to the semi-finals after a good 20-9 victory over 2006 Asian Games champion Elshod Rasulov of Uzbekistan. Con Sheehan put in a battling performance against Olympic silver medalist Zhilie Zhang of China but came up short, losing 14-9 in his super-heavyweight encounter. Some encouraging performances here so far from the Irish boxers in a tournament full of seriously talented boxers.

Dan man · 16-03-2012 1:21am

Ok, so after some very encouraging performances on the World Cup circuit (hopefully continuing this weekend in Rio), the Irish have one female and one male modern pentathlete in the hunt for Olympic qualification.
Natalya Coyle is storming up the Olympic rankings based on her reaching the final of both world cup races so far this year and is currently inside the qualifying positions. Her encouraging form would suggest that she should indeed go on to secure qualification for London when the process concludes (1st June).
Arthur Lanigan-O'Keeffe is also firmly in pursuit of a place at the London Olympics and if he can qualify for this weekends World Cup final in Rio he will be in a good position to succeed in this aim.
Here is a run-down on the qualifying procedure and the current standings in the Olympic rankings:

QUALIFICATION PROCESS:

36 men and 36 women will take part in the Olympic Pentathlon in London.
The maximum number of pentathletes allowed to compete in London for each nation is 2 men and 2 women.
So far, 24 of the 36 places have been filled in each of the men's and women's events meaning that there are 12 remaining positions in both the men's and women's competition available to be filled.
As 2 of these 12 remaining places are invitation spots it means that the Irish pentathletes will be fighting for 10 remaining quota spots in each category, 3 of which will be awarded to the top 3 non-qualified finishers at the 2012 World Championships in Rome at the end of May.
All this means that the Irish pentathletes in order to guarantee qualification through the Olympic rankings, they must be amongst the highest 7 ranked athletes who have not qualified through any of the above procedures.

Here is the current Olympic pentathlon rankings with an explanation as to who occupying those Olympic slots.
Q represents those pentathletes who have not yet qualified for the Olympics but are amongst those 7 available qualifying positions from the Olympic rankings:

Women:

Currently there will be 8 places available in this ranking system as the host nation quota spot will be re-allocated to the next highest ranked pentathlete.

Lena Schoneborn (Germany) - already qualified through UIPM World Cup Final.
Laura Asadauskaite (Lithuania) - already qualified through European Championships.
Victoria Tereshuk (Ukraine) - already qualified through European Championships.
Mhairi Spence (Great Britain) - Q1
Eva Trautmann (Germany) - Q2
Sarolta Kovacs (Hungary) - already qualified through the European Championships.
Elodie Clouvel (France) - already qualified through the World Championships.
Elena Rublevska (Latvia) - already qualified through the European Championships.
Yane Marques (Brazil) - already qualified through the World Championships.
Adrienn Toth (Hungary) - already qualified through the European Chmapionships.
Evdokia Gretchichnikova (Russia) - already qualified through the World Championships.
Leila Gyenesei (Hungary) - already 2 pentathletes from that country in qualifying positions.
Heather Fell (Great Britain) - already 2 pentathletes from that country in qualifying positions.
Freyja Prentice (Great Britain) - already qualified through the European Championships.
Annika Schleu (Germany) - already 2 pentathletes from that country in qualifying positions.
Ekaterina Khuraskina (Russia) - already qualified through the European Championships.
Anastasiya Prokopenko (Belarus)- Q3
Sylvia Gawlikowska (Poland) - Q4
Yuliya Kolegova (Russia) - already 2 pentathletes from that country in qualifying positions.
Natalie Dianova (Czech Republic) - Q5
Iryna Khokhlova (Ukraine) - Q6
Margaux Isaksen (U.S.A.) - already qualified through the Pan-American Games.
Claudia Cesarini (Italy) - Q7
Sabrina Crognale (Italy) - Q8
Natalya Coyle (IRELAND)

So as you can see, as it stands, Natalya is just outside of the qualifying spots in the Olympic rankings. However, as at least one of those other 8 pentathletes occupying Q spots are bound to be amongst the 3 best non-qualified finishers at May's World Championships, some of those quota spots will in all likelihood be made available and Natalya is in prime position to take up one of these places. Also, it is conceivable that Natalya herself may get amongst the 3 best non-qualified pentathletes at the World Championships and she may not need to rely on the Olympic Pentathlon Rankings. Additionally, Natalya is flying up the rankings so she will challenge strongly for one of those quota places over the coming weeks and months. Her qualification for the final of the second leg of the World Cup series in Rio this week will further boost her hopes.
Prognosis: it's looking promising for Natalya, and after yet another World Cup final this week in Rio, she should move up the rankings further.

Men:

Currently, 8 men are elligible to qualify from this ranking system as the host nation quota spot will be re-allocated to the next highest ranked pentathlete.

Aleksandr Lesun (Russia) - already 2 pentathletes qualified from that country.
Robert Kasza (Hungary) - already qualified through the UIPM World Cup Final.
Adam Marosi (Hungary) - already qualified through the World Championships.
Ilia Frolov (Russia) - already 2 pentathletes qualified from that country.
Serguei Karyakin (Russia) - already qualified through the European Championships.
Bence Demeter (Hungary) - already 2 pentathletes qualified from that country.
Pavlo Tymoshchenko (Ukraine) - Q1
Andrei Moiseev (Russia) - already 2 pentathletes qualified from that country.
Nicholas Woodbridge (Great Britain) - Q2
Dmytro Kirpulyanskyy (Ukraine) - already qualified through the European Championships.
Thomas Daniel (Austria) - already qualified through the World Championships.
Riccardo De Luca (Italy) - already 2 pentathletes qualified from that country.
Nicola Benedetti (Italy) - already 2 pentathletes qualified from that country.
James Cooke (Great Britain) - already qualified through the European Chmapionships.
Justinas Kinderis (Lithuania) - Q3
Peter Tibolya (Hungary) - already 2 pentathletes qualified from that country.
Pierpaolo Petroni (Italy) - already qualified through the European Championships.
Alexander Nobis (Germany) - Q4
Jinhwa Jung (South Korea) - already qualified through the Asian/Oceania Championships.
David Svoboda (Czech Republic) - Q5
Stanislau Zhurauliou (Belarus) - Q6
Jean Maxence Berrou (France) - Q7
Hwang Woojin (South Korea) - already 2 pentathletes qualified from that country.
Delf Borrmann (Germany) - already 2 pentathletes qualified from that country.
Mikalai Hayanouski (Belarus) - already 2 pentathletes qualified from that country.
Sam Sacksen (U.S.A.) - Q8
Stefan Kollner (Germany) - already 2 pentathletes qualified from that country.
Pavlo Kirpulyanskyy (Ukraine) - already 2 pentathletes qualified from that country.
Christopher Patte (France) - elligible for qualifying if he moves into quota positions.
Jin-woo Hong (South Korea) - already qualified through the Asian/Oceania Championships.
Federico Giancamilli (Italy) - already qualified through the European Championships.
Steffen Gebhardt (Germany) - already qualified through the European Championships.
Denis Cerkovskis (Latvia) - elligible to qualify if he moves into quota positions.
Choon-huan Lee (South Korea) - already 2 pentathletes qualified from that country.
Ondrej Polivka (Czech Republic) -elligible to qualify if he moves into the quota positions.
Arthur Lanigan-O'Keeffe (IRELAND) - elligible to qualify if he moves into the quota positions.

So with 8 spots available in this ranking system for non-qualified pentathletes, Arthur is effectively lying 12th non-qualified pentathlete currently, outside of the qualifying positions. However, 3 men ahead of him may well qualify directly from the World Championships in Rome in May and Arthur himself could qualify from those championships. There will also be 2 invitation spots so things are looking encouraging for his chances to compete in London.
Prognosis: just outside the qualifying places but is positioned well to make a drive for qualification and he is in with a very good chance of securing an Olympic place, be it through the rankings system or the World championships and if all else fails he can be hopeful of being considered strongly for one of the 2 invitation places.

I hope I have explained that as best I can, sometimes these qualifying procedures can be hard to get to grips with. In summary, Natalya is in a very strong position and if she continues in her current form she will comfortably qualify for the London Olympics. Arthur Lanigan-O'Keeffe is just outside of the qualifying spots but if he can put in some strong performances over the next couple of World Cup events (hopefully including this week in Rio) he will be in with a very good chance of going to the Olympics. Eanna Bailey is ranked 75th in those Olympic rankings and although highly unlikely he will qualify, it is not impossible providing he puts in some very impressive results over the coming months. The qualification deadline is June 1st. Best of luck to them all.

Dan man · 16-03-2012 2:04pm

There are 5 Irish boxers in action in the Chemistry Cup semi-finals today.
Irish flyweight Michael Conlan is up against one of the world's best in his last-4 clash when he meets Mongolian Purevdorjiin Serbamba. The Mongolian won the silver medal at the Beijing Olympics in the light-flyweight division and followed that up a year later with the world title in 2009. He is also the current World bronze medallist so this will be a tough encounter for Conlan. Should be very interesting to see how he performs against such an experienced fighter.
David Oliver Joyce is up against Brazilian Robson Conceicao (Pan-American silver medalist) in the lightweight division.
Paddy Barnes is up against Hamza Touba of Germany in the light-flyweight.
Adam Nolan also fights a German boxer in his welterweight semi-final.
Light-heavyweight Joe Ward meets Ecuador's Carlos Gongora in the evening session.

Dan man · 16-03-2012 6:14pm

Irish flyweight Michael Conlan lost an agonisingly close contest against his Mongolian opponent, losing only on countback after the scores were locked at 15-15 after three rounds. While disappointing to lose, it is yet another encouraging sign for Conlan that he will be in the hunt for honours at the London Olympics as his opponent Serdamba is the Olympic silver medalist from light-flyweight and a former world champion and current world bronze medalist, so to run him as close as he did is a great performance.
David Oliver Joyce also suffered defeat at the hands of Conceicao of Brazil in his lightweight semi-final, losing on a scoreline of 17-10.

Dan man · 16-03-2012 8:54pm

With the Irish women's hockey team about to begin their Olympic qualifying tournament, time for a preview of their chances and their opponents at the qualifiers in Belgium.

Opponents:

Spain (world ranked 11th)
IRELAND (world ranked 14th)
Belgium (world ranked 16th)
Russia (world ranked 21st)
France (world ranked 25th)
Mexico (world ranked 30th)

SPAIN:

History:
The Spanish women's team are traditionally very strong in hockey and have had some very proud moments in their past. They won the gold medal at their home Olympics in Barcelona 1992, by far their greatest achievement in the sport to date. They have qualified for every Olympic Games since then and finished 7th at the most recent edition of the Games in Beijing. Their best result at the World Cup was a 4th place finish at the 2006 tournament and they finshed in 12th at the most recent World Cup in 2010.
They have finished in 4th place at each of the last 4 editions of the Eurohockey Nations Cup and finished runners-up in 1995 and 2003. So as you can see, the Spainsh have a proud record in women's hockey.

Current Form:
Here are some of Spain's results from some of the more recent major tournaments:

Eurohockey Nations Cup 2011:
Spain 4-0 Itlay
Spain 1-0 Netherlands
Azerbaijan 1-2 Spain
Semi-Final: Spain 1-2 Germany
3rd/4th place play-off: England 2-1 Spain

Champions Challenge (second tier annual international tournamnet):
Spain 1-2 Azerbaijan
India 1-1 Spain
Spain 1-1 IRELAND
South Africa 2-3 Spain
Spain 2-3 Japan
3rd/4th place play-off: Spain 2-2 Scotland (Scotland won 4-3 on penalty strokes).

IRELAND V Spain:
As you can see, Ireland met Spain in the Champions Challenge trophy last summer, with the teams drawing the match 1-1.
Spain are not the force they were a few years ago, nevertheless they are the tournament favourites and the Irish women will have to perform out of their skins to overcome the Spaniards.

BELGIUM:

History:
The Belgian women's hockey team do not have a strong history of achievement and they are yet to qualify for an Olympic Games.

Current Form:
Here are their recent results from the 2011 Eurohockey Nations Cup where they finished in 5th place:

England 4-0 Belgium
IRELAND 0-3 Belgium
Germany 4-0 Belgium
Italy 0-4 Belgium
Azerbaijan 1-3 Belgium

IRELAND v Belgium:
The two nations have met on a number of occasions in recent years and the worrying thing for Ireland is that Belgium seem to have te measure of them and have had a lot of success against the Irish. They beat Ireland 3-0 in a crucial Eurohockey nations cup match in 2011 and they met recently in South Africa in a series of warm-up matches, with Belgium holding the advantage from those matches. Here are the results:

IRELAND 0-1 Belgium
IRELAND 0-1 Belgium
IRELAND 1-1 Belgium (match abandoned at half-time due to adverse weather and floodlight issues).

Another disadvantage is the fact that the Belgians will have home support in the Olympic qualifying tournament but having said that, it is by no means an unachievable task to beat Belgium, If the Irish team have serious ambitions to stake their place in London they need to be able to take on these teams and be beating them.

RUSSIA:

History:
Russia have no major achievements to their names in women's hockey. They qualified for the 2002 World Cup but finshed 16th and last at the tournament, losing 9 out of 10 of their matches (only positive result was a draw with Ukraine).

Current Form:
Here are Russia's results from the 2011 Eurohockey Nations Trophy (second tier division) where they failed to win promotion to the top European Nations Championship for 2013:

Russia 1-1 France
Ukraine 3-4 Russia
Russia 3-1 Switzerland
Russia 1-2 Scotland
3rd/4th place play-off: France 2-3 Russia

IRELAND v Russia:
The two nations have not met much recently but the Irish team should win this match, maybe not at a canter, but it should be 3 points nonethless.

FRANCE:

History:
No strong record in women's hockey.

Current Form:
Here are some of the French results at recent major tournaments:

Eurohockey Nations Trophy 2011 (second tier division):

Russia 1-1 France
France 5-2 Switzerland
France 2-2 Ukraine
France 0-5 Belarus
3rd/4th place play-off: France 2-3 Russia

IRELAND v France:
The Irish and French temas have met many times over the recent years and Ireland has had a great deal of success in these fixtures. They met 3 times in a warm-up series just a couple of weeks ago with the Irish team securing an impressive trio of 3-0 victories. Ireland should beat France at the qualifiers, anything less would be a disappointing result.

MEXICO:

History:
Nothing noteworthy in Mexican hockey to date.

Current Form:
Mexico hosted the recent Pan-American Games, which are not great in terms of strength and quality and they finished in a disappointing 6th place there. Here are their results from that tournament:

U.S.A. 5-0 Mexico
Mexico 1-3 Cuba
Mexico 0-1 Chile
Barbados 1-3 Mexico
5th/6th place play-off: Cuba 3-2 Mexico

IRELAND v Mexico:
The Irish team should be looking to score a handsome victory over the Mexicans as goal-difference could come into play in this tournament and this is their best chance to put a lot of goals away.

Spain are firm favourites to take this qualifying berth and their opposition in the play-off final on paper should come from either Ireland or Belgium. Although Ireland are higher ranked than their Belgian counterparts, Belgium may just be marginal favourites to finish ahead of Ireland based on recent performances as well as home advantage.
The Irish women have put in some very strong performances in recent times and they could do very well here. It is certainly not beyond them to upset the Spaniards and go all the way, but consistency is key, and this is sometimes what lets them down. It should be very exciting all the same, let's hope they get a bit of luck and you just never know.

Here are some of Ireland's latest results:

Eurohockey Nations Cup 2011:
Germany 3-0 IRELAND
IRELAND 0-3 Belgium
IRELAND 1-3 England
Azerbaijan 1-3 IRELAND
Italy 1-4 IRELAND
*Ireland finished 6th, avoiding relegation.

Champions Challenge (iannual nternational tournament for second tier nations) held in U.C.D.:
India 1-2 IRELAND
Azerbaijan 1-2 IRELAND
Spain 1-1 IRELAND
IRELAND 1-3 U.S.A.
Azerbaijan 0-1 IRELAND
5th/6th place play-off: South Africa 2-1 IRELAND

Some recent warm-up matches:
3 match test series in Belgium (February):
IRELAND 3-0 France
IRELAND 3-0 France
IRELAND 3-0 France

Tri-Nations Tournament in South Africa (January):
IRELAND 1-1 Belgium (match abandoned at half-time)
IRELAND 1-1 South Africa
IRELAND 0-1 Belgium
IRELAND 0-1 Belgium
IRELAND 0-1 South Africa

Pre Tri-Nations tournament warm-up matches in South Africa:
IRELAND 0-1 Belgium
IRELAND 2-1 South Africa

Dan man · 16-03-2012 9:12pm

Here are the fixtures for that Olympic qualifying tournament which gets underway tomorrow. The fixtures will be played in Kontich, Belgium (17th-25th March):

Date and Time|Fixtures
17/03/2012 (Sat.10:00)|Spain 7-0 Mexico
17/03/2012 (Sat.12:30)|IRELAND 5-1 France
17/03/2012 (Sat.15:00)|Belgium 4-0 Russia
18/03/2012 (Sun.10:00)|Spain 2-1 France
18/03/2012 (Sun.12:30)|IRELAND 3-0 Russia
18/03/2012 (Sun.15:00)|Mexico v Belgium
20/03/2012 (Tue.12:00)|Mexico v IRELAND
20/03/2012 (Tue.14:30)|Russia v France
20/03/2012 (Tue.17:00)|Belgium v Spain
22/03/2012 (Thu.13:00)|Russia v Mexico
22/03/2012 (Thu.15:30)|IRELAND v Spain
22/03/2012 (Thu.18:00)|France v Belgium
24/03/2012 (Sat.09:00)|France v Mexico
24/03/2012 (Sat.11:00)|Spain v Russia
24/03/2012 (Sat.17:00)|Belgium v IRELAND
25/03/2012 (Sun.10:00)|5th v 6th
25/03/2012 (Sun.12:30)|3rd v 4th
25/03/2012 (Sun.15:00)|1st v 2nd (OLYMPIC PLAY-OFF MATCH)

Country|W|D|L|F|A|+/-|PTS
Spain|2|0|0|9|1|+8|6
IRELAND|2|0|0|8|1|+7|6
Belgium|1|0|0|4|0|+4|3
France|0|0|2|2|7|-5|0
Mexico|0|0|1|0|7|-7|0
Russia|0|0|2|0|7|-7|0

Dan man · 16-03-2012 9:17pm

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.

Dan man · 16-03-2012 9:52pm

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.

Dan man · 16-03-2012 10:23pm

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.

Dan man · 17-03-2012 3:24pm

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.

Dan man · 17-03-2012 3:45pm

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/

Carpenter · 17-03-2012 6:26pm

Has Dan Martin being mentioned for a medal in cycling

Dan man · 17-03-2012 6:56pm

Carpenter wrote: »

Has Dan Martin being mentioned for a medal in cycling

It'll be good to see Dan Martin in action in London, not sure the course will be suited to him, but you never know how it'll all pan out. He's a superb talent but it's hard to hang a medal around the neck of any road race rider beforehand. It's just too unpredictable. I'm really looking forward to the men's Olympic road race though, it's on the first morning of Olympic action, will be interesting to see how Dan, Nicholas and the other rider (be it Brammeier or Deignan) gets on.

Carpenter · 17-03-2012 7:15pm

Dan man wrote: »

It'll be good to see Dan Martin in action in London, not sure the course will be suited to him, but you never know how it'll all pan out. He's a superb talent but it's hard to hang a medal around the neck of any road race rider beforehand. It's just too unpredictable. I'm really looking forward to the men's Olympic road race though, it's on the first morning of Olympic action, will be interesting to see how Dan, Nicholas and the other rider (be it Brammeier or Deignan) gets on.

Well my cash is on Dan

Dan man · 17-03-2012 9:31pm

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.

Dan man · 18-03-2012 11:48am

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.

Dan man · 18-03-2012 12:27pm

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.

Dan man · 18-03-2012 3:22pm

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.

Cosmo Kramer · 18-03-2012 6:40pm

Gutted.

FitzjamesHorse · 18-03-2012 8:14pm

Also gutted.

Dan man · 18-03-2012 9:37pm

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.

Date and Time|Fixtures
10/03/2012 (Sat.12:00)|Malaysia 5-1 Chile
10/03/2012 (Sat.14:15)|IRELAND 6-1 Russia
10/03/2012 (Sat.16:30)|Korea 8-2 Ukraine
11/03/2012 (Sun.12:30)|Malaysia 6-2 Russia
11/03/2012 (Sun.14:45)|Ukraine 0-12 IRELAND
11/03/2012 (Sun.17:00)|Korea 6-1 Chile
13/03/2012 (Tue.13:00)|Ukraine 1-5 Malaysia
13/03/2012 (Tue.15:30)|Russia 4-3 Chile
13/03/2012 (Tue.18:00)|IRELAND 1-1 Korea
15/03/2012 (Thu.13:00)|Russia 2-0 Ukraine
15/03/2012 (Thu.15:30)|Malaysia 2-3 Korea
15/03/2012 (Thu.18:00)|Chile 0-3 IRELAND
17/03/2012 (Sat.11:00)|Korea 5-1 Russia
17/03/2012 (Sat.13:15)|Chile 4-2 Ukraine
17/03/2012 (Sat.15:30)|IRELAND 1-1 Malaysia
18/03/2012 (Sun.11:00)|Chile 1-2 Ukraine (5th/6th place play-off)
18/03/2012 (Sun.13:30)|Malaysia 6-1 Russia (3rd/4th place play-off)
18/03/2012 (Sun.16:00)|Korea 3-2 IRELAND (OLYMPIC PLAY-OFF MATCH)

Country|W|D|L|F|A|+/-|PTS
Q Korea|4|1|0|23|7|+16|13
Q IRELAND|3|2|0|23|3|+20|11
Malaysia|3|1|1|19|8|+11|10
Russia|2|0|3|10|20|-10|6
Chile|1|0|4|9|20|-11|3
Ukraine|0|0|5|5|31|-26|0

Dan man · 18-03-2012 9:49pm

Returning to more positive news, Irish pentathlete Arthur Lanigan-O'Keeffe finshed 20th at today's second leg of the World Cup Series in Rio. This adds more precious points to his Olympic ranking tally and Arthur is now edging towards the qualification positions. The Olympic rankings finalise on June 1st but there are plenty of competitions to be contested before then. Hope he can keep up the good progress, if so he can look forward to a big summer of competition!

Irelands most likely Olympic 2012 Medals

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