Welterweight Nolan through to last 16
Olympics: Adam Nolan is through to the last 16 of the men’s welterweight division at London 2012 after winning his first ever Olympic bout at the ExCel Arena in tonight, but he was rocked in the third round by Ecuadorian Carlos Sanchez Estacio.
The Wexford man, who fights out of the Bray boxing club, almost paid a heavy price for ill-advisedly raising his arms whil against the ropes in the third round and receiving a powerful left hook in response.
It forced him to hold on for the dying seconds against a boxer determined to close the gap opened in the opening two rounds. However, the garda weathered the storm and won 14-8.
Nolan wasted little time in taking the fight to the Ecuadorian and, while he got hit by a few, he used a significant height and reach advantage to dish out more punishment than he received and take a 6-3 lead.
Never afraid to get into a scrap, Nolan allowed the second round follow a similar pattern and it ended a touch closer at 5-3 in the Irishman’s favour for a five-point lead heading into the last.
Sanchez Estacio had little choice but to chase the scores in the third. Nolan looked comfortable despite the frantic pace, but he was undoubtedly caught with his guard down by the late left. It wasn't enough, however, and Nolan maintained Ireland’s 100 per cent record in the ring thus far, follwoing wins for John Joe Nevin and Darren O’Neill yesterday.
The 25-year-old will be back in the ring on Friday night.
Chloe Mageewill be back in action on Tuesday afternoon, having won her first badminton group match against Hadia Hosny of Egypt in two games tonight.
After a slightly nervy start, the Letterkenny woman took the first game 21-17 and that spurred her on to confident second game, which she won by 15 points in 10 minutes.
Magee (23), ranked 44th in the world, will face 33-year-old former world number two Hongyan Pi, in what looks likely to be the group decider.
Kildare canoeist Eoin Rheinischqualified for the semi-final of the K1 slalom, with a 12th place finish after two runs at the Lee Valley White Water Centre. Rheinisch’s first run of 89.97 seconds was the quicker of his two and saw him head into the second round in sixth place, before he dropped back after fellow competitors improved.
A place in the top 15 was enough to qualify for Wednesday’s semi-final and the Irishman had two-and-a-half seconds to spare on the slowest qualifier, Japan's Kazuki Yazawa.
Rheinisch recorded a time of 90.72 with his second effort. He was six seconds adrift of German pacesetter Hannes Aigner, who improved by nine seconds on his first run with a time of 83.49.
Britain's Richard Hounslow is one place ahead of Rheinisch after a second run of 89.12.
The Irish sailing pair of Peter O'Leary and David Burrowsare second overall after first day's sailing in the Men's Star at Weynouth.
