Irish featherweight champion Bernard Dunne stormed through to the semi-finals of the Olympic Games qualifiers in Venice yesterday, stopping his Armenian opponent Simonyan Artyom in the third round.

Dunne recovered well after dropping to a 0-3 deficit by the end of the first round. The winning punch that fairly toppled Artyom was the most clinical of the day and leaves the 19-year-old Dubliner only one fight away from an Olympic place. Dunne now meets a strong Finn in Joni Turunen today.

Meanwhile, Drogheda bantam Damien McKenna clinched a place in the European championship draw for Tampere in Finland next month when scoring 9-4 over a Lithuain Giedrias Vasilevakis.

Arklow welter James Moore went though to the next round in the European series where he beats Kevin Evans of Britain.