Local boxers learn World Championships draws

Roscommon sisters Lisa and Aoife O'Rourke both received opening round byes in the World Boxing Championships which get underway in Liverpool today, and are two fights away from potential medals.

Lisa O'Rourke will box alongside 18 other women in the 70kg category. She has a bye to the last 16, and will take on Shirleidis Orozco Martinez of Colombia in Sunday's evening session.

Double Olympian and four-time continental champion, Aoife O'Rourke, Lisa’s sister,  has a first round World Championships bye. She's in a group of 18 boxers, and is through to the last 16. She'll take on Monika Langerova of the Czech Republic on Sunday.

Lisa, if she progresses through the last 16 bout, faces a quarter final fight for a medal on Tuesday evening, whilst Aoife has a potential quarter final on Wednesday afternoon.

Meanwhile, Tullamore's Gráinne Walsh will the first of two Offaly boxers in action in Liverpool.

Walsh faces a last 32 bout in the 65kg category during Friday morning's session. The Paris Olympian has been first drawn to face Slovakia's Jessica Triebelova.

Daingean native Brian Kennedy, making his championship debut for Ireland, received a bye in the opening round and will enter the ring on Tuesday evening in the last 16 of the 85kg category.

He faces the winner of a preliminary round bout between German Ammar Riad Abduliabbar and Ukrainain Danylo Zhasan.

If he were to progress, he would then face a quarter final next Friday, with a World Boxing Championship medal at stake.

Meanwhile, Walsh, if she wins her opening round on Friday would be back in the ring on Monday evening in the last 16 before a potential medal bout in the quarter finals on Wednesday.

Walsh boxes out of the St Mary’s club in Tallaght. Having competed at the Paris Olympics in 2024, she boxed at a world championships organised by World Boxing's rival governing body, the International Boxing Association (IBA), in Serbia in March.

Meanwhile, this will be a first world championships appearance for Brian Kennedy, who boxes out of the St Brigid's club in Edenderry.

This is first world championships to be held since April's vote by the IABA, which runs Irish boxing, in favour of affiliation with World Boxing, which will also run the boxing tournament at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

540 boxers from 66 federations are contesting these champions, the first in which men and women compete for World gold together. Team ireland has 17 fighters.

The competition will be the biggest ever Olympic-style boxing event held in the UK, and includes 17 medalists from Paris 2024 and more than 30 boxers that competed at the most recent Olympic Games. It will feature action at 10 weight classes for men and women with 80 medals being handed out, including 20 golds.