Four Irish boxers join Ahern in quarter-finals

Five Irish boxers will be involved in quarter-finals bouts at the final Olympic qualifier for European boxers in Athens, Greece today.

Irish captain Ken Egan, Darren Sutherland, and first cousins, John Joe Joyce and David Oliver Joyce joined Conor Ahern in the last eight courtesy of victories last night.

Super heavyweight Cathal McMonagle and Tom Sheahan bowed out however following last-16 defeats to Israel's Yosef Abed Elghani and Armenia's Tsolak Ananikyan respectively.

Earlier this evening, Egan and Sutherland progressed after registering convincing wins.

However, lightweight Ross Hickey was beaten 23-6 by Romal Amanov Azerbaijan, a silver medallist from the World Championships in China in 2005.

Egan, from the Neilstown club in Dublin, beat Italian light heavyweight Allessandro Sinacore 23-14.

Sutherland, of the St Saviours OBA club in Dublin, chalked up his second win in 24 hours to see off the challenge of Eneste Glodi, out-pointing the Norwegian 27-7 over four rounds.

In this afternoons deciders, John Joe Joyce and David Oliver, both of the St Michael's Athy club, advanced to the quarter finals.

John Joe chalked up an impressive 18-8 win Zdenek Chladek of the Czech Republic.

David Oliver cruised to victory, taking the first three rounds (7-4,16-6,24-9) before being handed a 30-10 verdict at the expense of Theodoros Papazov of Greece.

Irish boxers reaching the finals of their respective weight divisions will qualify automatically for the 2008 Olympics Games.

Paddy Barnes (light flyweight) and John Joe Nevin (bantamweight) have already qualified for the Olympics.

Twenty five Olympic places will be distributed in Athens.

Olympic Qualifiers April 7 Results (Preliminary):

51Kg: (Flyweight) Conor Ahern (Ireland) beat Salomo N'Tune (Sweden) 14-8

69Kg (Welterweight) Willie McLoughlin (Ireland) lost to Velibor Vidic (Bosnia) 11-13

75Kg: (Middleweight) Darren Sutherland (Ireland) beat Niko Jokinen (Finland) 5-0

April 8 Results (Last-16):

57Kg: David Oliver Joyce (Ireland) beat Theodoros Papazov (Greece) 30-10

60Kg: Ross Hickey (Ireland) lost to Romal Amanov (Azerbaijan) 6-23

64Kg: John Joe Joyce (Ireland) beat Zdenek Chladek (Czech Republic) 18-8

75Kg: Darren Sutherland (Ireland) beat Eneste Glodi (Norway) 27-7

81Kg: Ken Egan (Ireland) beat Allessandro Sinacore (Italy) 23-14

91Kg;Tom Sheahan (Ireland) lost to Tsolak Ananikyan (Armenia) RSC1

91+Kg: Cathal McMonagle (Ireland) lost to Yosef Abed Elghani (Israel) 4-12

April 9 Quarter-Final Draw:

51Kg: Conor Ahern (Ireland) v Bato - munko Vankeyeu (Belarus)

57Kg: David Oliver Joyce (Ireland) v Bashir Hassan (Sweden)

64Kg: John Joe Joyce (Ireland) v Gkevorgk Gkalstian (Greece)

75Kg: Darren Sutherland (Ireland) v Zoran Mitrovic (Serbia)

81Kg: Ken Egan (Ireland) v Daniel Kool (Holland).