MICHAELA WALSH was in no rush to make judgements after another early Olympic exit.
Walsh lost her opening bout in Tokyo and, along with brother Aidan, was one of eight out of 10 Irish boxers to do the same here.
She lost a unanimous decision against Svetlana Staneva after struggling to trouble the Bulgarian.
At 31, the Belfast woman faces a decision on whether to continue but she was reluctant to discuss that or the controversy surrounding Staneva’s next opponent Yu Ting Lin.
The Chinese Taipei fighter was – along with Imane Khelif – deemed not to meet the criteria for the discredited IBA’s World Championships last year but the IOC insist they are eligible.
Walsh said: “I haven’t been paying any attention with any of that, I’ve just been focussing on myself. I knew I was boxing the Bulgarian from last Thursday so I’ve just been staying away from all of that. The only person I was focussed on was the Bulgarian.”
On her future, she said: “I’m not sure, I’ll speak to the coaches,” she said, “I’ll get a Chinese and a can of Coke and I’ll be happy.”
Walsh and Staneva were instructed to box by the referee in an opening round which saw little engagement. Once the European Games champion was scored ahead by all five judges at that point, there was no road back.
But Walsh said: “Coming back in 5-0 down was a bit frustrating and I was sort of chasing it after that. I felt I had a very good second and third round and felt the scoring didn’t reflect how close the fight actually was.
“She’s a great opponent, and I wish her all the best and hope she goes all the way. She’s a great person as well and I was unfortunate probably to meet her in the first round.”