Boxer McComb wins bronze for Ireland at European games

Sean McComb has earned Ireland's second medal of the European Games in Baku.

The Holy Trinty lightweight from Belfast has beaten Yasin Yilmaz of Turkey on a unanimous points decision in his quarter-final at the Crystal Hall.

A solid display saw all three judges score it 29-28 for McComb, who now fights Azerbaijan’s Albert Selimov in Friday’s semi-final.

Wexford light-welterweight Dean Walsh was considered by all three judges to have lost his opening round against Kastriot Sopa of Germany in his quarter-final, and then picked up a warning from referee Mykola Karakulov of Ukraine in the second.

That neutralised the winning of the round that otherwise had been awarded to the Irishman by all three judges, who each awarded the fight 29-27 to Sopa when Walsh couldn’t get back into it.

Ireland’s third medal chance of the day, Adam Nolan from Enniscorthy, fighting out of Bray Boxing Club, takes on Josh Kelly of Britain at welterweight late in the afternoon.

Ireland’s swimmers had an impressive first morning in the pool with two progressing to semi-finals.

14-year-old Mona McSharry, competing at her first international championships, blazed through in the 50m breaststroke, the swim clocking an impressive 32.84 and knocking almost a second off her previous best.

The time earned her a place in this afternoon’s semi-final where she is ranked 14th overall. A delighted McSharry said: “I’m really happy with the swim and delighted to make the semi-final. I’ve been working on my starts and it came together in the race. I’m looking forward to relaxing now and cheering on my teammates before this afternoon’s semi-final”.

Emma Reid qualified in 17th place for the 200m Butterfly Semi-Final.

The Ards swimmer was just off her best touching in a time of 2 minutes 21.35 seconds. Holly Hibbott (2:12.07) and Amelia Clynes (2:13.15) of Great Britain claimed the top two spots in the event.

Today’s semi-finals will start with McSharry in the 50m Breaststroke at 1:30pm Irish time and Reid in the 200m Butterfly at 2:03pm.

They were the only two to progress as the entire Irish swimming squad of twelve were in opening day action in the pool. Danielle Hill was the last Irish swimmer in competition this morning in the heats of the 200m Backstroke. Hill, of Larne Swimming Club, posted a time of 2:21.41 which was off her Irish Junior Record (2:17.95) placing her 21st overall.

Ireland’s 3x3 women’s basketball team get their campaign underway against Slovenia at 3:30pm Irish time – with their final two games on tomorrow.

Chloe Magee has earned her first win in the badminton group stages, beating Kristine Sefere of Latvia 21-9 21-7 in Group F, before teaming up with brother Sam to beat the Lithuanian pair of Bartusis and Fomkinaite in straight sets 21-8 21-10 in the mixed doubles.

Scott Evans plays Belgian Yuhan Tan in the men’s singles tonight, while Sam and Josh Magee in the men’s doubles take on Angelo and Ricardo Silva of Portugal, and in the women’s doubles, it’s Sara Boyle and Rachel Darragh against French duo Lorraine Baumann and Audrey Fontaine.

Full swimming results –

W 50m Breaststroke - Mona McSharry 32.84 14th, Niamh Kilgallen 34.02 27th

M 50m Butterfly – James Brown 25.88 46th, Benjamin Doyle 25.77 43rd

W 100m Freestyle – Rachel Bethel 58.72 30th, Iseult Hayes 59.14 40th, Mona McSharry 1:00.51 58th

W 200m Butterfly – Emma Reid 2:21.35 17th

M 100m Backstroke – Alan Corby 59.15 40th, Rory McEvoy 58.20 33rd

W 400m IM – Katie Baguley 5:15.60 19th

M 200m Breaststroke – Andrew Moore 2:26.16 30th

W 200m Backstroke – Danielle Hill 2:21.41 21st