Shocked Katie Taylor congratulates the woman she inspired

Michael Conlan is backing his Irish teammate and fellow World champion Katie Taylor to rebound from yesterday’s stunning defeat to Azerbaijan’s Yana Alexseevna at the European Olympic qualifiers in Samsun, Turkey.

The Azeri lightweight beat the Bray woman on a unanimous decision – 39-37 across the board. Italy’s Irma Tessa edged Bulgaria’s Svetlana Staneva in the other semi-final.

David Oliver Joyce and Brendan Irvine also lost their bids to qualify for Rio yesterday after dropping decisions to Great Britain’s Joe Cordina and Armenia’s Narek Abgaryan in the light and fly classes on a desperately disappointing day for Irish boxing.