O'Rourke sisters seal medals in Bulgaria

Lisa and Aoife O'Rourke both won through to semi-finals at the European Boxing Championships in Bulgaria to guarantee a further two medals for Team Ireland.Current world middleweight champion Aoife was a 3-2 victor over Poland's Agata Kaczmarska in a tough battle.The 29-year-old from Castlerea, County Roscommon sealed a fifth confederation-level medal as she edged home after three all-action rounds against the reigning 80+kg world champion.Heading into the final frame, two judges had her two round up with two seeing it the opposite way, but O'Rourke did enough to earn the nod of the fifth judge in the final round which was the decisive vote.Next up is a semi-final against Russia's Saltanat Medenova on Wednesday."It was a battle," she told Boxing Ireland."That girl never gave in and I'm just thankful I had that bit of fitness to keep me going through all three rounds."I know it's easy looking in and people saying 'you're taller so just keep her out', but she just kept coming forward."Younger sister Lisa also came through in her quarter-final, reaching the semi-final of the light-heavyweight class with a dominant victory over England's Emily Asquith.The 24-year-old - who claimed world gold in 2022 and silver last year - was in top form against Asquith, boxing her way to a unanimous decision and will now face Ukraine's Iryna Lutsak in Wednesday's semi-final."It's hard come the quarter-finals with the medal on the line," she told Boxing Ireland."You don't forget about the medal, but go in like any fight, give it your best and hope that's enough."I look up to Aoife massively. Normally it's me going in before her but she threw it back on me today and said 'I have to put it in place and keep the vibes going' and thankfully she did. I knew she'd be well able.There was disappointment earlier in the day for Irish trio Jack Marley, Evelyn Igharo and Daina Moorehouse.Heavyweight Marley lost on a 4-1 split decision against Georgia's Georgii Kushitashvli, while Igharo came up short in her 70kg quarter-final against England's Chantelle Reid on a unanimous verdict.Moorehouse was beaten 4-1 in her flyweight quarter-final by Spain's Laura Fuentes Fernandez.