Road to Rio 2016 - Irish Olympic News

KevIRL

Sean McComb has also secured at least a bronze in the boxing st Baku

gordongekko

Ireland's men's hockey team (ranked 14) drew 2-2 with gb ( ranked 5) this morning. Same format as the ladies so figures crossed for them.

Dodge

No surprise but our boxers performing well in the European Games

Medalists
Brendan Irvine (Light Fly) - won't be in Olympics because Paddy Barnes has qualified
Sean McComb (Light)
Michael O'Reilly (Middle)

and of course

Katie Taylor (Light)

No olympic qualification through these games but still great to see

Cosmo Kramer

Any scope for Irvine to move up a weight to avoid Barnes?

gordongekko

Cosmo Kramer wrote: »

Any scope for Irvine to move up a weight to avoid Barnes?

I think Michael conlon is flyweight

I would guess that if the two of them qualify for the Olympics then the selection committee would have a say and the national championships next year would play a major part in deciding who goes.

Dodge

gordongekko wrote: »

I think Michael conlon is flyweight

I would guess that if the two of them qualify for the Olympics then the selection committee would have a say and the national championships next year would play a major part in deciding who goes.

Irvine won't be giving the opportunity to qualify at light fly.

We had Myles Casey at fly in Baku. Suppose Irvine could try there but he looks tiny. Not sure it's that easy

Strazdas

Brendan Irvine takes silver. Very impressive display, he was trailing after the first but came back with a ferocious display in the second and third rounds and finished on the front foot.

feargale

Belated credit to our women's hockey team. They played above themselves and must have been physically and mentally exhausted after the group games, not to talk of demoralised after China. I wasn't surprised that 5th-8th didn't go well.
The men have excelled themselves in the opener against GBR, but the task seems even greater than what faced the women. World rankings in their group: AUS 1, BEL 4, GBR 5, IND 9, PAK 10, MYA 12, IRL 14, POL 17, FRA 18, CHN 31. Four to qualify for finals.

Dodge

Martin Fagan won't be in the olympics anyway

http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/other-sports/olympic-qualifier-martin-fagan-quits-i-woke-up-and-didnt-want-to-run-338931.html

gordongekko

gordongekko wrote: »

Ireland's men's hockey team (ranked 14) drew 2-2 with gb ( ranked 5) this morning. Same format as the ladies so figures crossed for them.

Lost 4-2 today

Dodge

They'll need a good win to avoid finishing in 4th. If they do, they'll face Australia in the Qf and they're destroying teams.

The Rings The Flame

Now we've begun winning badminton medals at the euro games.

I think Ireland winning badminton medals and basketball matches is one of the signs of the apocalypse.

Strazdas

Katie Taylor survived a massive scare against the local Azerbaijani girl Alekseeva this morning to secure her place having to pull out every weapon in her arsenal to barely edge it by the tightest possible margin.

Just shows it is by no means a foregone conclusion that she will win gold in Rio. I don't think there is any sign that she is in decline, more that the others are catching up (having said that, Taylor said afterwards she thought she had won all four rounds).

The_Kew_Tour

Mens hockey Result

Ireland 6-0 China!!!

Ireland into QF! they have finish in top 3 to get spot in Rio.

The_Kew_Tour

Strazdas wrote: »

Katie Taylor survived a massive scare against the local Azerbaijani girl Alekseeva this morning to secure her place having to pull out every weapon in her arsenal to barely edge it by the tightest possible margin.

Just shows it is by no means a foregone conclusion that she will win gold in Rio. I don't think there is any sign that she is in decline, more that the others are catching up (having said that, Taylor said afterwards she thought she had won all four rounds).

Thought it was a more comfortable win then judges had it myself.

Strazdas

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

Thought it was a more comfortable win then judges had it myself.

Yes, obviously a bit of home town favouring going on. Katie herself thought she won all four rounds and she is no spoofer. That's the nearest she has come to losing a competitive fight in years though.

She should be safe enough in Rio from bad judging decisions (if she qualifies). It would take a brave set of judges to cheat the poster girl of women's boxing.

Strazdas

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

Mens hockey Result

Ireland 6-0 China!!!

Ireland into QF! they have finish in top 3 to get spot in Rio.

Great stuff.....they put the Malaysia debacle behind them quickly.

Dodge

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

Mens hockey Result

Ireland 6-0 China!!!

Ireland into QF! they have finish in top 3 to get spot in Rio.

Realistically, top 5 will get them in. They need to beat Belgium to realistically finish 3rd in the group. If they finish 4th, they'll play Australia.

Then they'll be hoping to win the 5th-8th bracket

Strazdas

Great gold for Michael O'Reilly in the men's middleweight boxing against the home Azeri favourite

gordongekko

Strazdas wrote: »

Great gold for Michael O'Reilly in the men's middleweight boxing against the home Azeri favourite

Katie won as well

Strazdas

gordongekko wrote: »

Katie won as well

She did indeed....two golds in the space of an hour

gordongekko

Men'sh hockey team lost 2-1 to Belgium. Face Australia on Wednesday

Strazdas

gordongekko wrote: »

Men'sh hockey team lost 2-1 to Belgium. Face Australia on Wednesday

They were the victims of some shockingly bad video umpire decisions. Even neutrals commenting on Twitter were up in arms.

Cosmo Kramer

Interesting TV rights development today. However, the Olympics must be free to air (by law) so something will have to change - either Eurosport will sell on the Irish rights or else they would have to go free to air for the duration of the games.

Strazdas

Cosmo Kramer wrote: »

Interesting TV rights development today. However, the Olympics must be free to air (by law) so something will have to change - either Eurosport will sell on the Irish rights or else they would have to go free to air for the duration of the games.

Apparently they will be free to air on Eurosport.

I imagine RTE will come to some sort of an arrangement though with Eurosport to buy or lease the rights from them. I don't think Eurosport, unlike Sky, have any presence in Ireland? I'm not sure they would be hell bent on having exclusive rights for Ireland.

Dodge

Strazdas wrote: »

Apparently they will be free to air on Eurosport.

You can't get Eurosport FTA (by legal definition) so they'll end up on RTE

flynng

As a result of the Games in Baku who did we qualify for Rio? Was it just the medallists or did Kieran Behan,Natasha McManus, Aileen Reid or Derek Burnett manage to stake claims to Rio qualification too?

flynng

As a result of the Games in Baku who did we qualify for Rio? Was it just the medallists or did Kieran Behan,Natasha McManus, Aileen Reid or Derek Burnett manage to stake claims to Rio qualification too?

Dodge

flynng wrote: »

As a result of the Games in Baku who did we qualify for Rio? Was it just the medallists or did Kieran Behan,Natasha McManus, Aileen Reid or Derek Burnett manage to stake claims to Rio qualification too?

No Irish, including the medalists, qualified for the Olympics as a result of Baku

Plenty of those who competed will but not yet

gordongekko

gordongekko wrote: »

Men'sh hockey team lost 2-1 to Belgium. Face Australia on Wednesday

Lost 4-1. I think they've gb again in a must win tie to keep Olympic hopes alive

Dodge

gordongekko wrote: »

Lost 4-1. I think they've gb again in a must win tie to keep Olympic hopes alive

No, GB are through. Ireland play Pakistan and must win to have any chance

Then they'll play one last game against one of Belgium/France or India/Malaysia. The losers of those 2 will play each other with that winner playing (hopefully) Ireland for a spot at the Olympics

There's even a small chance that 6th would be good enough but if we don't beat Pakistan, we'll have to win the European Championships to qualify

India are already through to Olympics

finbarrk

CoSport have a number of events on sale today. I bought Katie Taylors (hopefully) QF and SF. The final isn't up.

Strazdas

Dodge wrote: »

No, GB are through. Ireland play Pakistan and must win to have any chance

Then they'll play one last game against one of Belgium/France or India/Malaysia. The losers of those 2 will play each other with that winner playing (hopefully) Ireland for a spot at the Olympics

There's even a small chance that 6th would be good enough but if we don't beat Pakistan, we'll have to win the European Championships to qualify

India are already through to Olympics

Part 1 accomplished. Ireland have just beaten Pakistan 1-0

Dodge

Terrific result. They'll play the winner of Malaysia/France.

They lost 4-2 to Malaysia in the group stage

Strazdas

Dodge wrote: »

Terrific result. They'll play the winner of Malaysia/France.

They lost 4-2 to Malaysia in the group stage

I'm no hockey expert but it looks like Ireland seriously underperformed in that first Malaysia game.....by far and away their worst performance in this series of games.

Dan man

There is a scenario whereby Ireland can lose their 5th place play-off and still make the Olympics, but it is extremely unlikely.... the various scenarios for that to happen would be as follows....

- Russia or France do not win Eurohockey (almost certain)
- South Africa participate and win African Qualification Tournament, and subsequently decline quota place as they suggested they might (unlikely)
- Canada or Argentina win Pan American Games (extremely likely)
- Brazil finish 7th or lower at Pan American Games (highly likely)

3 of those 4 events are likely to happen, but the idea that South Africa will
a) win the African qualification tournament (Egypt seem stronger at the moment) and
b) subsequently refuse the quota place...... seems extremely unlikely to play out. Anyway, if South Africa have no intention of accepting the quota place then they would not enter the qualifying event one would imagine, thus ending our Olympic dream. And even if they did, their players would hardly play with the necessary passion if they knew they couldn't qualify for the Olympics even if they won the qualifying event. Like I said, Egypt are in a better position to win that event based on current form. So it seems that our next game is a MUST win..... but the good news is that a win virtually will guarantee us qualification for Rio bar a set of extremely unlikely events.

Dodge

Here's the likely scenario

Asia - India
Europe - Germany (Could be one of 5)
Oceania - Australia
Africa - South Africa/Egypt
Americas - Argentina
Hosts - Brazil

That leaves 6 spots for the WHL
Netherlands
Belgium
Britain
Canada are safe.

If we win here's how the rest would rank
1) Spain
2) Ireland
3) New Zealand
4) Malaysia

New Zealand winning Oceania would be bad news for us.

If we lose Sunday, they rank
1) Spain
2) Malaysia
3) New Zealand
4) Ireland

Even if SA win and don't take spot, it's likely FIH will offer the spot to Egypt. So we need to win on Sunday, and then hope there are no more surprises

Dan man

Dodge wrote: »

Here's the likely scenario

Asia - India
Europe - Germany (Could be one of 5)
Oceania - Australia
Africa - South Africa/Egypt
Americas - Argentina
Hosts - Brazil

That leaves 6 spots for the WHL
Netherlands
Belgium
Britain
Canada are safe.

If we win here's how the rest would rank
1) Spain
2) Ireland
3) New Zealand
4) Malaysia

New Zealand winning Oceania would be bad news for us.

If we lose Sunday, they rank
1) Spain
2) Malaysia
3) New Zealand
4) Ireland

Even if SA win and don't take spot, it's likely FIH will offer the spot to Egypt. So we need to win on Sunday, and then hope there are no more surprises

In that scenario, the quota wouldn't go to Egypt as the FIH already have it in the Olympic criteria that any re-allocated quota must be re-distributed through the World League.

Also, for Brazil to qualify as hosts, they must finish in the top 6 in the Pan-Ams (unlikely it seems).
A win against Malaysia and we will be Olympic bound in all likelihood.

Dodge

Dan man wrote: »

In that scenario, the quota wouldn't go to Egypt as the FIH already have it in the Olympic criteria that any re-allocated quota must be re-distributed through the World League.

Either way. SA won't enter an Olympic qualifier if they don't want the spot

Also, for Brazil to qualify as hosts, they must finish in the top 6 in the Pan-Ams (unlikely it seems).

current ranks have them 6th (33 in world) with Mexico (36th) and Cuba (48th) behind them. Don't think it's as likely as you that they finish outisde top 6

A win against Malaysia and we will be Olympic bound in all likelihood.

Yeah, that's the important thing. WIn and we should be OK.

Dan man

Dodge wrote: »

Either way. SA won't enter an Olympic qualifier if they don't want the spot


current ranks have them 6th (33 in world) with Mexico (36th) and Cuba (48th) behind them. Don't think it's as likely as you that they finish outisde top 6


Yeah, that's the important thing. WIn and we should be OK.

I think it's more unlikely than likely Brazil will finish in top 6 because I think Cuba are able to take them down in particular, Mexico have already done so in the World League too. But it is up in the air for sure, could go either way, but I feel if Cuba send their strongest team, they are a match for many teams in that region.

Strazdas

Dodge wrote: »

Yeah, that's the important thing. WIn and we should be OK.

If you'd offered the Irish team one match to (probably) qualify for Rio a few weeks ago, they would have bitten your hand off so they are exactly where they want to be right now.

feargale

What time is Ireland v. Malaysia? Is it live on Sky sports? Thanks.

Well done to the Irish Times. Sports Weekend doesn't even give the time of the match.

The Lost Sheep

feargale wrote: »

What time is Ireland v. Malaysia? Is it live on Sky sports? Thanks.

Well done to the Irish Times. Sports Weekend doesn't even give the time of the match.

Sky Sports 3 in 15 minutes

Dodge

If you haven't got sky its streamed live on starsports

Oh and Ireland are 2 up!

Dodge

Fiona Doyle has posted an Olympic qualifying time at the World University Games. She's the first swimmer to make the team

Strazdas

Ireland have beaten Malaysia 4-1

gordongekko

Dodge wrote: »

If you haven't got sky its streamed live on starsports

Oh and Ireland are 2 up!

Won 4-1

Dan man

Yesss....so close to Rio now

Strazdas

gordongekko wrote: »

Won 4-1

Fair play to them. They delivered in the two high pressure games at the end.

gordongekko

What results do we need now?