THREE Irish boxers have secured bronze medals at the European Boxing Championships in Bulgaria.
Joe Ward, Michael Conlan and Dean Walsh are one step closer to the 2016 Olympics, after they qualified for the World Boxing Championships, which take place in October in Qatar.
The trio won their quarter-final bouts in Samokov on Wednesday, August 12.
Ward, 21, dominated his light heavyweight fight and followed bantamweight Conlan, 23, and light welterweight Walsh, 20, into the semi-finals.
Defeating Denmark’s Frederik Jensen, Conlan proved he's on track to be bantamweight champion.
Meanwhile, after a unanimous decision against his Hungarian opponent, Walsh secured his first medal at a major international championship.
Welterweight Adam Nolan - who had defeated the top seed in the previous round - did not make it through to the semi-finals after suffering defeat to Belarus’ Pavel Kastramin.
