Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Tom Maher
Jack Woolley guaranteed medal and through to the final in Taekwondo.
Winning start for Olympic Champion Kellie Harrington.
On day four at the European Games, Team Ireland’s Jack Woolley has guaranteed himself either a silver or gold medal at these Games. Woolley started the day in winning ways defeating his Swedish opponent to advance to the quarter finals a couple of hours later, where he was again victorious seeing off his British opponent to advance to the semi-finals. In his third contest of the day Woolley saw off the Italian fighter impressively to take win, and advance to the final against Spain, guaranteeing himself a medal in the process.
Olympic Gold medallist Kellie Harrington opened her Games with a win defeating her Slovakian opponent on a split decision to advance to the round of 16. Team mate Jude Gallagher was unfortunate to be on the wrong side of a split decision in his bout, with Dean Clancy closing the day in the ring with a win over his Bulgarian counterpart.
Irish Diver Ciara McGing impressed on her European Games debuting advancing to this evening’s Platform (10M) final ranked 11th.
Canoeing multi medallist Jenny Egan-Simmons booked her spot in the K1 500m Sprint semi-finals later in the day with a seventh place finish in her heat.
Ireland’s Archery competitors also got their Games underway in the Recurve Individual competition. See full sport by sport report below.
All of the action from the European Games can be viewed live HERE
TAEKWONDO
Team Ireland’s Jack Woolley has a guaranteed medal in the Men’s -58kg event in Taekwondo, following a spectacular day of competition. The Dubliner will compete in the gold medal final later tonight (23rd June) at 19:36 Irish time against Spain’s Adrian Vicente Yunta.
The Tokyo Olympian’s journey to the semi-finals saw him overcome Sweden’s Josef Hodayfa Alami in the Round of 16 this morning, 2-0, before meeting Great Britain’s Mohammed Nour in the quarter-finals. Having fought many times previously, Woolley was expecting a tough test against the British fighter. Three aggressive rounds later, the Irishman came out on top, with a 2-1 victory.
In the semi-finals against Italian Matias Lomartire, a controlled Woolley took charge of the mat immediately, and with it the victory 2-0. With a guaranteed medal on the cards, Woolley felt confident he could progress.
Speaking after the semi-final match, the South Dublin Taekwondo club athlete described a draining match on the back of the intense quarterfinals,
“It was a draining match, especially after the match beforehand which was really intense, three rounds of madness. I felt a little zapped in the first round, these players can get a bit of a one up on you. But it was my gear three, and I was able to up the level, so now I’m able to say I’m guaranteed gold or silver at the European Games, in an Olympic sport.
“I’m just proud, just reflecting back, I didn’t showcase my full abilities. I’m on fire, and I’m so excited to go into the finals, against a player I have fought before. It’s always an exciting match, I’m just glad I got to show what Jack Woolley is made of for once.”
The Men’s -58kg Finals take place later on this evening at 19:36 Irish time, and can be streamed HERE
BOXING
Olympic Champion Kellie Harrington opened Team Ireland’s boxing campaign with a win via a spilt decision over Miroslava Jedinakova of Slovakia, to advance to the round of 16.
Commonwealth Games Champion 57kg Jude Gallagher, was unfortunately on the wrong side of a split decision in his last 32 bout against Bulgaria’s Javier Ibanez Diaz.
Sligo man Dean Clancy finished the day off in impressive style with a dominant 5-0 win over his Austrian opponent; Arsen Chabyan.
More reaction from the ring to follow later.
DIVING
Irish diver Ciara McGing had an impressive European Games debut this morning as the 22-year-old advanced to the Platform (10M) Final in eleventh place.
McGing started strong scoring 58.80 points with an inward 2 ½ somersaults, while her highest score came in the 3rd round where she received 61.60 points for a reverse 2 ½ somersaults.
Despite the diving taking place indoors, a heavy thunderstorm rocked the venue during round five, but McGing stayed calm, closing out the round with a back 2 ½ somersaults. 1 ½ twists for a total of 254.65 points and a place in the Final.
‘I’m feeling good,’ McGing commented after; ‘It wasn’t my best day, but everything was pretty steady, so it’s nice to be able to go to the Final now with nothing to lose.’
The Platform Final takes place this evening at 7pm (Irish time).
CANOE SPRINT
Irish canoeist Jenny Egan-Simmons put in an impressive performance in the Women’s K1 500m Sprint to progress to the semi-finals this morning. Thunderstorms postponed the start of competition at Kyrspinow Waterway but Egan didn’t let that affect her performance as she finished seventh in the opening heat with a time of 2:05.024.
Speaking after her heat the Dubliner said; “Going into the heat this morning I knew I had to get a top seven finish to advance to the semifinals later today, I had a good start, I got ahead of the Romanian girl next to me and I knew I had to hold her off until the finish to place through to the semis.”
Egan-Simmons is racing the Olympic distance of 500m today, although her preferred event is the 5000m, where she has won multiple World Cup, European and World Championship medals. The semi-final takes place this afternoon, and the Lucan athlete will need to finish in the top three to guarantee a spot in the A final, with the 4th-7th place finishers will go to the B final.
ARCHERY
Dubliner Oskar Ronan was up first this morning for the Qualification Round of the Men’s Recurve Individual, after the initial start time was delayed by an hour owing to the Thurderstorm.
The qualification round consists of 12 ends where each archer shoots six arrows in a three minute time frame with the aim of collecting as many points as possible. After the twelfth end, Oskar finished with 546 points which put him in 47th position.
Speaking afterwards, Oskar said “It was a bit rough, postponed for lightning…I wasn’t shooting great in the first half and then I had a miss in the second half so below average shall we say. Unfortunately that means I’ve qualified last so for the head-to-heads the first one I’m up against is whoever was in first place…so that’s an uphill battle”.
Emma Davis, Surrey born but with roots in Armagh, completed her qualification round with 587 points, ranking 45th overall.
“The first half was kinda tough, the nerves got the better of me” said Davis after her qualification round. “I just focused on the process and the second half was a bit better and I ended on a ten”.
Both Oskar and Emma move into the matchplay phase on Monday where they will go head-to-head with the other archers.
PADEL
Sam McKibbin and Sean Neave depart the European Games with a top 16 ranking in the Men’s Doubles. In a lengthy day of competition yesterday, McKibbin and Neave defeated Albania in their morning opener to set up a last 16 evening meeting against Portugal.
The Portuguese pairing of Alfonso Fazendeiro and Miguel Oliveira, who were fourth place finishers in last year’s World Championships won the match 2-0 and will move forward to the quarterfinals.
“We always knew we were going to be down to a hard start having two matches in one day.” said McKibbin. “This morning we didn’t have a great game, there was a lot of pressure obviously being a winnable match, but we did what we needed to do to .”
Commenting afterwards on the standard at these Games, Neave said “It’s an honour to represent Ireland and play at the Games. Of course there are a lot of countries in Europe which are very strong besides the South American countries like Argentina, so it has been a pleasure to be here”.
“Portugal is going to be the favourite behind France I reckon, so I’m happy that we gave it our best and hopefully next time we can get a couple of more games.”
The next major event for Padel will be the European Championships taking place this October in Spain.
RESULTS – 23rd June 2023
Boxing
Women’s 60kg – Kellie Harrington (IRL) beat Miroslava Jedinakova (SVK) 4-1
Men’s 57kg Jude Gallagher (IRL) beaten by Javier Ianex Diaz (BUL) 1-4
Men’s 65kg Dean Clancy (IRL) beat Arsen Chabyan (AUT) 5-0
Taekwondo
Men’s -58kg Jack Woolley (IRL) V Josef Hodayfa Alami (SWE), Round of 16, win for Ireland 2-0 (12-2, 14-2).
Men’s -58kg Jack Woolley (IRL) V Mohammed Nour (GB), Quarter-final, win for Ireland 2-1 (13-12, 16-18, 10-10).
Men’s -58kg Jack Wooley (IRL) V Matias Lomartire (ITA), win for Ireland, 2-0 (17-12, 27-9).
Diving
Women 10m Platform Preliminaries: Ciara McGing – 254.65 points (11th)
Canoe Sprint
Women’s K1 500m Canoe Sprint – Jenny Egan-Simmons – Heat 1 – 2:05.024 – 7th
Archery
Oskar Ronan | Men’s Recurve Individual Qualification Round | 47th | 546 points
Emma Davis | Women’s Recurve Individual Qualification Round | 45th | 587 points
Padel (*22nd June 2023)
Round of 16 – Portugal (Alfonso Fazendeiro & Miguel Oliveira) beat Ireland (Sam McKibbin & Sean Neave) 2-0 (6-0, 6-1)
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SCHEDULE – 23rd of June 2023 (afternoon)
(all times in Irish time, with local time in brackets):
Taekwondo
19:36 (20.36) Men’s – 58kg FINAL, Jack Wooley (IRL) V Adrian Yunta Vicente (ESP)
Diving
14.00 (15.00) Mixed 3M Synchro Final (Clare Cryan & Jake Passmore)
19.00 (20.00) Women 10m Platform Final (Ciara McGing)
Canoe Sprint
15:44 (16:44) Jenny Egan-Simmons Women’s K1 500m Canoe Sprint – Semi-final