Kellie Harrington suffers first championship defeat in five years while Aoife O’Rourke makes Euro final

Thirty-four year old local hero Natalia Shadrina ended Harrington’s 32-fight unbeaten run securing a split decision win over Harrington who had defeated the Serbian lightweight in the final of last year’s European Games in Poland.

The Dubliner also beat her in the gold medal contest at the Strandja Cup tournament in 2022.

Given that Shadrina was fighting in her native country the odds favoured her and Harrington needed to be at her best to secure the verdict.

This is her first defeat in a championship bout since losing in 2019.

It was her first defeat at any level since losing in the preliminary round of the Strandja Cup in Sofia three years ago – though that one scarcely counts as a defeat as only the judges thought her opponent had won.

Harrington, who was the number one seed in Belgrade, and Shadrina have both qualified for Paris in the 60kg class with looks more competitive by the day.

Tokyo silver medallist and two-time World champion Beatriz Ferreira, who challenges for the IBF World professional belt – formerly held by Katie Taylor – on Saturday night in Liverpool has qualified and former Irish World champion Amy Broadhurst could also box at 60kg for Great Britain if she qualifies in Bangkok next month.

But regardless of what happens in Paris, Harrington will not have happy memories of the Aleksandar Nikolic Hall in Belgrade.

She was noticeably busier in the first round than she had been in the quarter-final and she got the nod from the Belgian, Bulgarian, and Israeli judges to give her a crucial 3-2 lead after the first round.

Tactically, Shadrina was much better in the second round and stood off Harrington before upping the pace in the final minute and landing enough scoring punching to convince four of the judges to give her the round.

Even though Harrington held a two-point advantage on the Bulgarian judge’s card it was level on the other four.

Shadrina was empowered by the prospect of finally beating the Olympic champions and she was the better fighter in the third stanza.

Though the third round scores were not displayed, the bout did not go for review which suggests that the four judges who scored the second round in her favour likewise in the third with the Serbian winning the bout on a split decision.

The 34-year Dubliner brings home a bronze medal as she did from the 2018 Euros in Sofia as well as a cheque for $5,000 but this defeat will sting her ahead of defending her Olympic title in Paris.

In contrast, Tokyo Olympian Aoife O’Rourke remains on course for a third successive European middleweight title after a hard-earned split decision semi-final win over Isildar Busra from Turkey.

Beaten in the quarter-finals of the European Games last year the 24-year old Turk made a storming start and turned the contest into a battle drawing O’Rourke into a brawl.

It was exciting to watch and though O’Rourke finished well in the last 30 seconds the Turk got the nod from four of the five judges after round one.

O’Rourke changed their tactics in round 2 standing off her opponent and using her boxing skills to keep the Turk at distance. She looked to have dominated the round but only three of the judges scored it in her favour.

This left the contest on a knife-edge going into the final round. The odds still favoured the Turk who was two points up on two cards, two others had the fight level with O’Rourke ahead by two on one card.

But the Castlerea fighter underlined her experience in the third round keeping the Turk at bay with her boxing skills.

The verdict went for a review. Her younger sister Lisa was denied a quarter-final victory by the two observers.

But this time they sided with Aoife to give her victory on a split decision, though the announcer initially she had won by unanimous decision before correcting herself.

Earlier Westport’s Shannon Sweeney hit a career milestone reaching her first ever European final.

Boxing in the 50kg category the St Anne’s Boxing club fighter achieved a unanimous 5-0 win in the semi-final over Anush Grigoryan from Armenia

In a first round notable for its lack of action Sweeney, a southpaw was patient and landed the scoring punches to take the round on four of the judges’ card.

The second round was closer with three of the judges opting for the Romanian.

But Sweeney who had knocked out the number one seed in the quarter-final wrapped up the fight in the third round to go through.

There was no joy, however, for bantamweight Niamh Fay who lost on a unanimous 5-0 decision against Lacramioara Perijoc from Romania.

The Ballyboughal boxer brings home a silver medal at prize money of $5,000.