Boxer Aidan Walsh has been forced to withdraw from Sundays Olympic welterweight semi-final against British boxer Pat McCormack.
Ever since the Belfast fighter has seen leaving the boxing stadium in a wheelchair after securing a bronze medal on Friday there were doubts about whether he would be fit for what would have been the biggest fight of his career.
Initially, the Irish team played down the issue saying that he had suffered a slight sprain of his ankle. But they declined to give an update on his condition yesterday which fuelled rumours that he would be forced to concede the fight.
Understandably the team gave him every opportunity to recover. It is believed that he suffered the injury when he landed awkwardly after leaping into the air to celebrate the quarter-final win which guaranteed him a bronze medal.
It is a disappointing end to the campaign for the 23-year-old. He would have been the underdog in todays semi-final against McCormack who beat him in the European Olympic qualifier in Paris last month as well as in the Commonwealth gold medal fight in Australia in 2018.
Walsh would have had to undergo a medical prior to todays fight but obviously had no chance of passing hence the official announcement that he was withdrawing.
The full text of the statement issued by the Olympic Federation of Ireland is:
AIDAN WALSH FORCED TO SETTLE FOR OLYMPIC BRONZE FOLLOWING WITHDRAWAL
The decision has been made to withdraw Aidan Walsh from the semi-final of the Mens Welterweight competition at the Olympic Games. The Belfast boxer was due to fight in Sundays semi-final against Pat McCormack (GB), but due to an ankle injury sustained during his quarter-final bout with Mervin Clair (MRI), the decision to withdraw him was made in conjunction with his medical team. Walsh had initially hoped to compete and waited to give himself every opportunity to do so. However subsequent scans and medical reviews have now ruled out this possibility. He will still take home his bronze medal which he won in the quarter-final bout, becoming the sixteenth boxer to bring home a medal from the Olympic Games. The tally of Olympic boxing medals now stands at 17, more than 50% of the overall medals won by Team Ireland at Olympic Games.
The team focus will now move towards Kurt Walker and Kellie Harrington, who compete in the quarter-final rounds over the coming days and have the opportunity to increase the medal haul for Ireland. Walker takes on Duke Ragan (USA) in tomorrow Feather Weight bout, while Harrington will compete against Algerias Imane Khelif.
What Aidan did this week is an incredible achievement, Team Ireland Team Leader for Boxing, Bernard Dunne, said his performance throughout the tournament has been outstanding. And it is great to see him write his name in the annals of Irish sport. Just over two years ago we selected Aidan for his first major championship, and over the past few months that potential that we had identified has grown and developed into a world class performance, that reflects greatly on the level of preparation he has put in ahead of these Games.
These are a unique Games, and Im really impressed with the team itself. Theyve all been rallying around each other, and I know that we will continue to do so. We have two more boxers hoping to win some medals, in Kellie and Kurt, and we will collectively make sure that they are ready.
Next in the ring for Team Ireland is Kurt Walker who competes in the Featherweight category at 3am Irish time.