Daina Moorehouse’s silken skills puts her into last 16 of Olympic boxing qualifiers as Amy Broadhurst bows out

Singularly unfortunate not to win her clutch fights at both the European Games last year in Poland and again at the first Olympic qualifier in Italy in the spring this is the 22-year old’s final chance to make the Paris Olympics.

Having received a first round bye she was the last Irish boxer to enter the ring in Bangkok. Her 27-year old opponent, Anush Grigoryan from Armenia, had pedigree but she couldn’t cope with the Wicklow fighter.

Boxing from a southpaw stance she dominated the opening three minutes apart from one brief spell in the final minute of the round. Only one Iranian judge gave the round to the Armenian with Moorefield taking the stanza 4-1.

Moorehouse was even better in the second which she dominated with her silken skills and excellent footwork and she took the round 5-0 which left her in a virtual unassailable position.

Knowing she needed a knockout to turn the contest around in the third, Grigoryan threw caution to the wind and came forward at every opportunity and finally had some joy.

Three of the judges give her the round but it didn’t alter the outcome as Moorehouse won comfortable on scorecards of 30-27, 30-27, 29-28, 29-28, 28-29.

She will be in action again on Saturday and needs two more wins to secure her place in Paris.

Today’s Sports News in 90 Seconds – 31st May

Meanwhile, Amy Broadhurst’s dream of competing in the Olympics is over.

In the quarter-final of the lightweight division he Dundalk fighter suffered a 4-1 loss to Korean Yeonji Oh.

The Korean’s spoiling tactics frustrated Broadhurst who had switched to Team GB after her failure to secure a place on the Irish team for the final Olympic qualification tournament.

It was 3-2 for the Korean after round one. Broadhurst had more joy in round two and going into the final stanza the contest was level on three of the judges’ cards, Broadhurst was two points clear on one judges’ card while the Korean was two clear on another judges.

So it all came down to the last three minutes and Korean took the round on the five judges’ card to secure a place in the semi-final leaving her one win away from Paris. The scorecards were 30-27, 29-28, 29-28, 29-28, 28-29.