KELLIE ONE STEP CLOSER
She said it doesn’t matter about the colour of the medal, that what is more important is making people smile. Add in leap, cheer, whoop and holler and you’d get a flavour of what it was like in homes across the country as Kellie Harrington won her semi-final this morning and you’d say she has delivered in full.
Dublin’s North Inner City, and the rest of the country will rise again now at 6 AM on Sunday when she bids to become Ireland’s latest Gold medallist in a Lightweight Women’s Final against Beatriz Soares Ferreira of Brazil.
There is nothing lightweight about either boxer and it promises to be a three-round contest, lasting nine minutes, that will live long in the memory.
This morning was a ‘chess match’ of a bout against Sudaporn Seesondee of Thailand and it ended in a 3-2 split decision in favour of the red corner of Ireland’s champion.
“It’s fantastic,” she said afterwards. “Olympic silver medallist. That’s the stuff that people dream about.”
We will have more about the Kellie Harrington story tomorrow morning on Sport for Business
NATALYA HOPING FOR 9-6-MEDAL
Natalya Coyle has finished ninth and sixth at the last two Olympic Games and is hoping to continue the sequence at least by winning a medal in the individual Modern Pentathlon.
After the opening fencing this morning she is off to a flier lying in third place behind German and Korean rivals on a score of 238.
The swimming, showjumping and the concluding laser run will take place tomorrow with the final event in the main Olympic Stadium at 7-30 Tokyo time.
WATSON EXCELS AGAIN BUT EXITS
Ireland’s Tanya Watson was back in action on the 10m platform this morning at Tokyo Aquatics Centre, this time for the semi-finals. Her historic appearance as the first Irish Olympic female diver in the quarter-finals yesterday, saw Watson qualify for today’s session in 15th place after scoring 278.15 points.
In this morning’s semi-finals, Watson performed the same five dives from the quarter-finals, with two of her five dives scoring higher than yesterday’s performance. Indeed, it was another overall impressive display from the 19-year-old diver, who maintained her composure and control across the five dives today, scoring 278.15 points for 15th position. With the top 12 advancing to the finals later on today, Watson was just outside the qualifying mark by 23.25 points.
Speaking after her performance Watson said: “Making the semi-finals was amazing. To be able to go out there again and dive was great. I just love flying through the air! I was nervous up there a bit, but at the end of the day, once I am at the end of the board, I am focusing on something specific so I am just trying to do the best that I can with that really.”
MAGUIRE AND MEADOW LIEING 11TH
Leona Maguire and Stephanie Meadow lie in a share of 11th place in the Women’s golf this morning after two strong rounds in the heat that hit 36 degrees at times and resulted in two caddies being hospitalised with sunstroke and heat exhaustion.
A suggestion that the golfers play 27 holes on each of today and tomorrow to beat incoming torrential rain was ditched as the temperatures rose bout the tournament may still be completed over 54 as opposed to 72 holes.
Major Champion Nelly Korda leads the way on -13, four shots ahead of three golfers currently tied for the medal positions on -9.
Maguire and Meadow sit a further five shots back, along with 13 other golfers and with another five between them and the podium.
Bridging that gap over two rounds would be easier than over one so we have to hope that the weather gods will be kind and allow the tournament to play out to a finish as planned on Saturday.
LESS THAN HALF A SECOND
It was down to 0.45 of a second over the allotted 88 seconds that cost Cian O’Connor a place in the jump-off for the medals in the Show Jumping yesterday morning. It was a cruel twist of the clock after he had completed a clear round on a tough course but with six doing likewise and without a time penalty that was the end of his hopes.
The fact that his horse Kilkenny was later withdrawn from the team event following evidence of a small nosebleed during the round means that it may have been easier not to make the jump-off rather than facing whether to compete with a horse that might not have been 100 per cent after his big effort in qualifying and the final itself
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