Magnificent McCloskey only a win away from Olympic spot

PAUL McCLOSKEY is one fight away from the Olympic Games following another spectacular victory at the qualifying tournament in Warsaw yesterday.

The Irishman stopped Greek hopeful Spiridiom Ionnidis on the 20 point rule early in the third round of their light welterweight quarter-final.

He can secure his Athens berth if he defeats Patrick Bogere of Sweden today.

“He is extremely focused,” said High Performance Director, Gary Keegan. “He has hit form at precisely the right time. He really excelled against the Greek, although Ionnidis played right into his hands. He was always willing to come forward but, Paul did all his scoring with clean, crisp right hooks and jabs.

“He picked his man off early and was just three hits short of the 20 point stoppage going into the third round.

Bogere is well known to the Irish camp, as he won a gold medal at the multi-nations tournament at the Rochestown Park Hotel, Cork, last November.

McCloskey missed that tournament with a knee injury and the Swede beat the world military champion, Michael Kelly, and Roy Sheahan from Athy en route to the medal.

There was disappointment for Billy Walsh’s team in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, yesterday when light heavyweight, Kenneth Egan, lost 33-16 to the Lithuanian, Dougirdas Semiotas, confirming the vagaries of the computer scoring system that has puzzled the Irish all week there.