Kellie Anne Harrington took a significant step toward bringing lightweight gold back to Ireland. The bracket’s number-one seed advanced to the quarterfinal round following a three-round shutout of Italy’s Rebecca Nicoli.
Scores were 30-27, 30-27, 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28 in favor of Harrington, who is now one win away from advancing to at least the medal round. Harrington is expected to advance to the final round, if not win it all.
Doing so would give Ireland its second Gold medal at the weight, with Katie Taylor running the tables in 2012 London before going on to become undisputed lightweight and WBO junior welterweight champion in the pros.
The win runs Ireland’s record to 4-4 in Tokyo, with Harrington as the last remaining female fighter for her team.
UP NOW: Imane Khelif (Algeria) vs. Mariem Homrani Ep Zayani (Tunisia)
STILL TO COME
Rashida Ellis (USA) vs. Caroline Dubois (Great Britain)
(4) Simranjit Baatth (India) vs. Sudapron Seesondee (Thailand)
(3) Beatriz Ferreira (Brazil) vs. Shih-Yi Wu (Chinese Taipei)
Raykhona Kodirova (Uzbekistan) vs. Naomie Yumba (Colombia)
Esra Yildiz (Turkey) vs. Dayana Sanchez (Argentina)
(2) Yeonji Oh vs. Mira Potkonen
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox