Ireland secured their first medal at the European Games today as boxer Brendan Irvine overcame home favourite, Salizar Alizada, in their quarter-final bout.
The Irish light fly-weight struggled to settle into the contest, but a rousing comeback means he will meet Ukrainian Dmytro Zamatayev in Thursday’s semi-final.
Alizada started the brighter of the pair, taking the first round (30-20) and was spurred on by a raucous home crowd in Baku’s Crystal Hall.
But the Belfast fighter showed character in the second and narrowly clinched it (29-28) to set up a mouth-watering final round.
As Alizada grew desperate, Irvine rhythmically and routinely broke down the national champion's defence and secured a split decision victory, as well as Ireland’s first medal in these inaugural European Games.
“I knew the atmosphere would be like that” said Irvine, adding; “And to be honest, the atmosphere probably drove me on, more than it did him. So I just focused on the performance.
“They were always going to back him, from the start, but the crowd had no effect on me, to be honest. I just focused on what I had to do.”
The 19-year-old now becomes the first Irish athlete to win a medal at the games and the historic victory was greeted by stunned silence from the Baku crowd.
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