AIDAN Walsh can punch his ticket to Paris tomorrow (Friday) when he is in quarter-final action in the 2nd Olympic World Qualifier in Bangkok.
Light-middleweight Walsh has enjoyed a great tournament to date, opening with a victory over Boniface Mogunde Maina of Kenya on Monday and then following up with a 4-1 win over Algeria’s Youcef Islam Yaiche on Tuesday.
In Wednesday's Round of 16 bout, the Holy Family man was facing his toughest test against 2021 world champion, Yuri Zakharieiev, but the Tokyo Games' bronze medallist get the better of the Ukrainian by way of a 3-2 split decision.
It was a hotly contested bout, with two points deductions for each boxer, beginning in the first round for Zakharieiev.
By the end of the high-quality and competitive rounds, the judges saw it 27-26; 26-27; 27-26; 27-26; 25-28 in the West Belfast man's favour.
Walsh will box Jordan's Zeyad Eashash, a 2022 Asian Games' silver medallist, on Friday with a win seeing him join older sister Michaela - who qualified through last year's European Games - on the flight to Paris.
However, there is a safety net that with five quotas available in the 71kg category, the four losing quarter-finalists will drop into a box-off consisting of semi-finals and a final to decide the final spot.
In all, it has been a good showing for the Irish in Bangkok with Walsh's win the 10th straight as super-heavyweight Martin McDonagh and welterweight Grainne Walsh won earlier in the day.
However, the run came to an end on Thursday morning with Kelyn Cassidy losing out in his middleweight Last 16 bout against Spain’s Gazimagomed Schami Jalidov Gafurova, meaning his Olympic dream is over. Sean Mari is in action later on Thursday against Malaysia’s Ariffin Muhammad Abdul Qaiyum.
Aidan Walsh boxes on Friday morning, as does his namesake Grainne who is facing Sedia Sanogo of the Ivory Coast in their 66kg quarter-final, while Daina Moorhouse takes on Anush Grigoryan of Armenia in their 50kg Last 16 bout.
Friday's bouts are available to watch live here
