IRELAND will be sending a record-breaking TEN boxers to the Paris Olympics following the final set of qualifiers in Thailand.
Jennifer Lehane, Grainne Walsh, Daina Moorehouse, and Aidan Walsh all booked their tickets, adding to the six fighters already bound for France.
Lehane and Walsh booked their tickets for Paris with quarter-final wins in Bangkok on Sunday morning.
Lehane – a primary-school teacher on leave to pursue her dream – was the first to do it, claiming a 5-0 win over Hanna Lakotar of Hungary.
The 54kg fighter from Ashbourne said: “I feel on top of the world. This is what dreams are made of. I can’t believe it.
“We sat down together, put the tactics together, I implemented them, I stuck to my simply boxing. I think that’s what got me over the line.
“I can’t wait to give my boyfriend Shane a hug, and my coach Derek, I know they’d love to be here with me. We did it.”
And Walsh followed up at 66kg, making up for a controversial judging decision in the previous qualifying tournament in March.
The Tullamore woman defeated Ani Hovsepyan of Armenia on a unanimous decision.
Walsh said: “It’s extremely hard to sum up in words this feeling. I feel like it was all meant to be. I feel like I qualified back in Milan and I came to Bangkok to collect my ticket.
“I believe everything happens for a reason and I’m just so delighted and over the moon.
“Having my family here – I have my dad, brother and sister here – and having the support of the nation and the community in Tullamore, my mam and brother, I’m so proud of myself, it’s been a long road and it’s only the start.
“The faith that the coaches have shown in me, the road I’ve been on, all the knockbacks all had to be for this reason.
“If I had turned around and walked away, some people might have done that but, for me.
“Each time I got a knock back it set me up added more strings to my bow for this and this is why this moment is all the sweeter.
“I actually can’t believe it, I’ve lived this moment in my mind a million times and to actually have it come through is unbelievable.”
RECORD HAUL
Those two brought Ireland up to eight boxers bound for Paris, a tally that extended to nine when Daina Moorehouse qualified at 50kg.
The ‘Pocket Rocket’ from Enniskerry BC beat Zlatislava Genadieva Chukanova of Bulgaria on a 4-1 split decision.
That was despite having had a point deducted in the second round with her victory meaning Ireland were sending more boxers to Paris than they had to any previous Games.
Tokyo bronze medallist Aidan Walsh became the tenth after winning his 71kg box-off, while Martin McDonagh missed out on a place in the 92+kg category after losing his quarter-final.
They join the previously-qualified Dean Clancy, Jude Gallagher, Kellie Harrington, Jack Marley, Aoife O’Rourke and Michaela Walsh.