Lisa O'Rourke wins European gold as GB send three boxers into Friday's finals

The Roscommon boxer won the 80kg title in Sofia, Belfast's Michaela Walsh took bronze, and Aoife O'Rourke, Abdul Burton, Chantelle Reid and Damar Thomas all box for gold on Friday.

Lisa O'Rourke is European champion. The 24-year-old from Castlerea, Roscommon, beat Russia's Anastasiia Demurchian on a 4-1 split decision in the 80kg final at the European Boxing Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria, on Thursday, BBC Sport reported. She has previously won gold and silver at the World Championships.

Her older sister, Aoife, boxes Russia's Saldant Medenova in the middleweight final on Friday.

Michaela Walsh comes home with bronze. The 33-year-old from Belfast lost her featherweight semi-final 4-1 to Hungary's Vladislava Kukhta, her third podium of the year after silver medals at the Commonwealth Games and the Strandja tournament. "I'm proud of my performance and fought to the very end," Walsh told Boxing Ireland. "This isn't over, it's just a stepping stone, so onto next year for the Olympic qualifier."

Great Britain have three in the finals. Abdul Burton, 20, beat Turkey's Semih Gumus 4-1 in the super-bantamweight semi-final on Thursday and meets Russia's Viacheslav Rogozin on Friday. "It's good to secure silver but I'm going to be pushing for gold tomorrow," he said. "It would be pretty big to do that in my first major, when I'm this young."

He joins Chantelle Reid, who faces Turkey's Busenaz Surmeneli in the women's light-middleweight final, and Damar Thomas, the 21-year-old Commonwealth champion, who meets Russia's David Surov at super-heavyweight, BBC Sport reported.

Dimeji Shittu and Callum Makin both lost their semi-finals 4-1 and take bronze, Shittu to Russia's Cheerav Ashalaev at light-heavyweight and Makin to Azerbaijan's Saidjamshid Jafarov at middleweight. "I've still come away with a medal so I'm delighted with that," Shittu said.

GB sent 15 boxers to Sofia and are guaranteed five medals, with three chances of gold on Friday.