DARREN SUTHERLAND and Conor Ahern got Ireland’shopes off to a flying start at the Olympic qualifying tournament in Athens yesterday but while Sutherland will be back in action today, Ahern faces an anxious wait to see if he can box tomorrow after sustaining a cut eye in his flyweight contest.

ERIC DONOVAN kept Irish spirits on a high with an emphatic if not sensational 33-17 victory over a highly-rated Hungarian lightweight, Miklos Varga, at the World Boxing Championships in Chicago last night.

WITH John Joe Joyce set to get the show on the road in the early hours of today Irish time, the Irish boxing team were last night perusing what High Performance Director, Gary Keegan, described as a ‘fair’ draw for the world championships in Chicago.