Irish in Action
8.55am: Shane Lowry (Golf – third round)
10am: Danielle Hill (Swimming – 50m freestyle heats)
10am: Ben Healy, Ryan Mullen (Cycling – Men’s Road Race)
10.30am: Daniel Wiffen (Swimming – 1500m freestyle heats)
10.44am: Rory McIlroy (Golf – third round)
11.15am: Finn Lynch (Sailing – Dinghy races 5 and 6)
11.40am: Shane Ryan, Darragh Greene, Max McCusker, Conor Ferguson (Swimming – Men’s 4x100m medley relay)
11.52am: Danielle Hill, Mona McSharry, Ellen Walshe, Grace Davison (Swimming – Women’s 4xm medley relay)
1.25pm: Eve McMahon (Sailing – Dinghy races 5 and 6)
4.10pm: Rhys McClenaghan (Gymnastics – Pommel Horse final)
From 6.15pm: Cathal Doyle, Luke McCann, Andrew Coscoran (Athletics – 1500m repechage)
9.08pm: Kellie Harrington (Boxing – women’s 60kg semi-final)
Elton John it was who sang the hit, Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting – and certainly that could likely be the case for Kellie Harrington who returns to the ring for her third bout of these Olympics looking to continue what has been a, ahem, hit performance so far.
After her opening win over Italy’s Alessia Mesiano (who looked suitably in awe of the Dubliner in the post-fight congratulations) and the impressive quarter-final win over Colombia’s Angie Valdes, Harrington again faces a South American opponent in Beatiz Iasmin Soares Ferreira. Both boxers are already assured of at least a bronze medal but obviously want more than that.
It’s a repeat of their lightweight final from Tokyo but it is worth noting that the Brazilian is a two-time world amateur champion and, since the tweaking of the rules which allowed professionals compete in the Olympics, is the current IBF world professional champion (a title she won in May).
Harrington, of course, is looking to win back-to-back Olympic gold medals and has looked hugely impressive and controlled in her bouts so far. She’s already made history by becoming the first Irish woman to win medals at more than one Olympics.
These surely are historic times for Team Ireland which is demonstrated by the fact that Harrington is not alone in entering the weekend assured of a medal.
Swimmer Daniel Wiffen already has one gold medal and he goes in quest of another in his strongest event, the 1500 metres freestyle (or 30 lengths of the pool) in which he holds the world record time.
Wiffen’s win in the 800 metres brought him tears on the podium at the medal ceremony and he will looking to kick on from this morning’s heats of the 1500 metres in his quest to further add to his medal haul. One race at a time, though. None of that getting ahead of ourselves, now.
And, for Rhys McClenaghan, his moment of truth – after a week long wait – has arrived in the pommel horse. He topped the qualifying in what seems like an age ago. Now is his time, hopefully.
Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry return to Golf National for the third round of the men’s tournament. McIlroy is six shots behind the trio of co-leaders – Xander Schauffele, Hideki Matsuyama and Tommy Fleetwood – and will need to post a low one. But Lowry is 11 shots back and admitted to playing for “pride” heading into the weekend.
Worth a watch
No surprise that Chinese players Chen Meng and Sun Yingsha should find themselves at opposite ends of the table for their gold medal match. The same two players faced off in the final in Tokyo, with Meng taking gold.
This time around, it is 23-year-old Yingsha – known as ‘Little Monster’ – who is the favourite. Meng’s nickname, incidentally, is ‘Big Dream’. Yingsha started playing as a four-year-old and Meng when she was eight. The two players needless to say are wizards with the table tennis bat and their showdown – 1pm Irish time – promises to be mesmerising.
Pop open the popcorn for this one.
