Kellie Harrington beaten in European semi-finals for first loss in over three years

SERBIA SHOCK: Ireland’s Kellie Harrington dejected after losing. Pic Credit: Aleksandar Djorovic, Inpho.

Kellie Harrington has suffered her first loss in over three years as she was beaten in her 60kg lightweight semi-final at the European Elite Championships in Belgrade on Thursday.

Harrington looked far from her best and she was defeated in a split decision by Natalia Shadrina from Serbia, who was fighting in front of her home crowd, to end a streak of 32 bouts without a loss for the Irish fighter.

Shadrina will now go on to contest for the gold medal, while Harrington returns to Ireland with bronze, exactly three months out from Paris where she will be aiming to defend her Olympic crown.

The home town heroine controlled the last round to ensure she emerged victorious against her opponent from Dublin, who still comes away with $5,000, with the silver medal winners getting a $10,000 award and the outright champion earning $15,000.

Two Irish boxers are still in the mix for gold after double Olympian Aoife O’Rourke assured herself of at least silver in the 75kg, while Mayo boxer Shannon Sweeney is also through to the final of the 50kg division.

Sweeney was up against Armenia's Anush Grigoryan and in a tight and tense opening round round, the Irish boxer took the fight to her opponent, landing a series of quickfire combos to the body in particular.

But Grigoryan showed her quality and her competitiveness as she was able to hit the target with enough head shots to get the edge on two of the five cards.

Sweeney was much calmer in the second round though, going on the back foot and throwing smarter punches which were good enough to put her ahead on two scorecards and level on another three going into the final round.

Grigoryan knew she had to go for it, leaving her chin constantly exposed which allowed Sweeney to strike a series of right hooks throughout the third stage, which was enough to ensure the judges awarded her a 5-0 victory.

Roscommon's Aoife O'Rourke is guaranteed a silver medal at middleweight after her hard-fought win over Busra Isildar of Turkey.

Busra won the first round on four of the judges' scorecards but a more assured and precise performance from O'Rourke in the second and third rounds ensured she emerged with a split-decision victory.

Finally, Niamh Fay’s run ended at the semi-final stage against the Lacramioara Perijoc who won by unanimous decision in the 54kg class.