Olympics day 4: McCormack and Dubois advance, but Clarke misses out

Pat McCormack and Caroline Dubois secured victories as Cheavon Clarke bowed out on a mixed day four of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics for Great Britain’s boxers.

It was Birtley’s McCormack who got the ball rolling in the morning session against Aliaksandr Radzionau, showing no signs of rustiness or nerves in his last 16 contest, having been given a bye in the opening round of the tournament.

He displayed his usual slick footwork and counter punching prowess to nullify the threat of Belarus’ Aliaksandr Radzionau, winning the opening round in the opinion of four of the five judges.

The number one seed took further command in the second round and continued to display the sharper work in the third to take both unanimously.

The North Easterner – who took a silver medal at the World Championships in 2019 and then won the European Qualifying tournament for Tokyo 2020 – can now look forward to a meeting with Bobo-Usmon Baturov of Uzbekistan, where they will box for a semi-final place.

That bout will take place at approximately 12.30pm (4.30am UK time) on Friday.

Caroline Dubois picked up where McCormack had left off as she too secured a clean sweep of verdicts from the judges and a unanimous verdict with it.

The Repton southpaw found her range almost immediately and made her opponent miss before punishing her on the counter to take the opening round across the board.

The Kosovan stepped up the tempo in the second round, but Dubois remained unflustered and picked her shots well to claim another clean sweep.

And it was more of the same in the third round, with the Londoner able to cope with anything that Sadiku could throw at her to win 30-27 on all five scorecards.

Dubois will now face Rashida Ellis of the USA on Friday at approximately 11.30am (3.30am UK time).

But it was not to be three out of three for GB, with Gravesham’s Clarke coming out on the wrong end of a spilt in his bout with Brazil’s Abner Teixeira, which was closer than the 4-1 score line suggested.

Clarke edged the first round of a thrilling bout 3-2, while the second went 4-1 to the South American, leaving all to play for in the decisive third round.

But it was Teixeira who was adjudged to have finished the stronger, edging the final three minutes 3-2 and clinching the contest in his favour.

Tomorrow (Wednesday), Karriss Artingstall takes on Australia’s Skye Nicolson in a featherweight quarter-final at approx 5pm (9am UK time), Lauren Price faces Mongolia’s Myagmarjargal Munkhbat in a middleweight last 16 bout at approx 11.30am (3.30am UK Time) and Ben Whittaker boxes Abdelrahman Salah Orabi in the last 16 at approximately 2.25pm (6.25am UK time).

(Kristian von Sponneck)

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