Irish boxers learn their path to the medals

Darren Sutherland and Paddy Barnes both received byes into the last sixteen of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing at this morning's draw at the Asia Hotel in the Chinese capitol.

Fri, 08 Aug, 2008 - 12:47

Darren Sutherland and Paddy Barnes both received byes into the last sixteen of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing at this morning's draw at the Asia Hotel in the Chinese capitol.

Irish captain Ken Egan will be in the ring for a preliminary round clash against Julius Jackson of the Virgin Islands tomorrow.

The match up is a repeat of the both men's fairly one-sided clash in the World Championships in Chicago last October, a bout which Egan won after a second round 20-point rule stoppage (21-1).

John Joe Joyce meanwhile, renews acquaintances with Gyula Kate. The-26 year-Hungarian, who qualified for the Olympics in Pescara, Italy this year, beat Joyce 32-17 in the World Championships and also recorded a victory over the St Michael's Athy man in the 2008 EU Championships in Poland.

Bantamweight John Joe Nevin faces Abdelhalin Ouarradi of Algeria. Ouarridi booked his ticket for the Games after winning gold in the first African qualifier. He also beat Nevin on a count-back at the Irish teams training camp in Bugeat, France earlier this year.

Barnes meanwhile, will face Jose Luis Meza of Ecuador, a silver medal winner from the 2008 Copa Independencia. Meza secured his passage to Beijing after winning a silver medal at the first Americas qualifier.

Sutherland goes head-to-head with 26-year-old Algerian 2007 All African Games gold medallist Nabil Kassell, who qualified for Beijing after winning a bronze medal at the first African qualifier.

Commentating on this mornings draw, High Performance Director Gary Keegan said that they were pleased with the pairings, but stressed that they were taking it one bout at a time.

He said: "We are happy enough with the draw. But we will be just concentrating solely on the opposition that is in front of us. Our process is one fight at a time and we will not be looking ahead to who we will be boxing next or anything like that.

"That's the message we would like to get across here. It might be an old cliché, but our philosophy is, "one bout at a time."

2008 Olympic Draw

Preliminary (9/8-2008)

81Kg: (Light heavyweight) Ken Egan (Ireland) v Julius Jackson (Virgin Islands) 9/8/2008

Preliminary

75Kg: (Middleweight) Darren Sutherland (Ireland) bye

Last 16

Darren Sutherland (Ireland) v Nabil Kassell (Algeria)

(Bout date to be confirmed)

Preliminary

64Kg: (Light welterweight) John Joe Joyce (Ireland) v Gyula Kate (Hungary) 10/8/2008

Preliminary