Ireland will be taking home at least five medals from the 39th Chemistry Cup following five quarter-final wins in Halle, Germany on Thursday.
London 2012 Olympian Michael Conlan, David Oliver Joyce, Paddy Barnes, Adam Nolan and Joe Ward all progressed to Friday’s semi-finals.
Ward, the current European champion, recorded an emphatic 20-9 decision over Elshod Rasulov of Uzbekistan, a gold medal winner at the 2006 Asian Games and a Beijing Olympian.
Conlan got Ireland off to a winning start with a 16-10 decision over Turkish flyweight Erdal Inanci, while Joyce came from behind to edge out Germany’s Arthur Brill on a countback following a 16-16 tie.
Nolan posted an impressive 18-12 verdict over Turkish welterweight Koeroglu Abdulkadir, while 2008 Olympic bronze medallist and 2010 European champion Paddy Barnes outclassed China’s Zhonglin Wu 20-12.
London 2012 Olympian Darren O’Neill, Steven Ward and Con Sheehan bowed out though.
Sheehan lost out by a five-point margin to Chinese super-heavyweight Zhilie Zhang, a silver medal winner at the Beijing Olympics.
Kilkenny middleweight O’Neill dropped a 14-9 decision to Danabek Suzhanov of Kazakhstan and Ward was beaten by Chinese heavyweight Xuanxuan Wang.
The semi-finals will be decided over two sessions. The finals of the 20-nation tournament will be held on Saturday.
