Kellie Harrington losses first fight in three years after semi-final defeat

Kellie Harrington has suffered her first loss in over three years as she was beaten in her 60kg lightweight semi-final at the European Elite Championships in Belgrade on Thursday.

Harrington looked far from her best and she was defeated in a split decision by Natalia Shadrina from Serbia, who was fighting in front of her home crowd, to end a streak of 32 bouts without a loss for the Irish fighter.

As the Irish Examiner reports, Shadrina will now go on to contest for the gold medal, while Harrington returns to Ireland with bronze, exactly three months out from Paris where she will be aiming to defend her Olympic crown.

Meanwhile, Shannon Sweeney and Aoife O’Rourke are both guaranteed at least silver medals at the European Championships.

Sweeney beat Armenia’s Anush Grigoryan by unanimous decision to advance to the light-flyweight final.

And O’Rourke got the better of a split decision in her middleweight semi-final with Busra Isildar of Turkey.

Storming into the finals....

Aoife O'Rourke has booked her place in the European Finals, great form from the Roscommon Olympian who has already qualified a spot for #Paris2024 #TeamIreland https://t.co/P3tiGcGczu

— Team Ireland (@TeamIreland) April 25, 2024