Ireland’s Kellie Harrington has been confirmed as the number one seed in the lightweight category at the Tokyo Olympics which begins in just over two weeks’ time.

The only other Irish boxer who will be seeded is Belfast featherweight Michaela Walsh who is ranked at four.

There are just four seedings in each weight category. Harrington and Walsh are now set to get a bye in the preliminary round and go into action in the last-16 round.

Harrington, who was crowned world amateur champion in 2018, won the gold medal at the European Olympic qualifiers in Paris earlier this month.

The points she earned enabled her to take over as the top ranked fighter in the rankings compiled by the Olympic Task Force which is running the Games.

AIBA, amateur boxing’s governing body, was banned by the International Olympic Committee following a series of scandals.

As the number one ranked lightweight she was guaranteed top seeding. But due to a quirk in the system she is likely to be drawn on the same side of the draw as the current world champion and gold medal favourite Beatriz Ferreira from Brazil.

Ferreira is ranked second behind Harrington and should be the second seed which would have meant they could only meet in the gold medal bout.

However, the Americans Olympic qualifier tournament which was due to the held in Buenos Aires earlier this year was cancelled to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Task Force ruled that the top ranked fighter from the Americans would be guaranteed a third seed at the Olympics regardless of their rankings. This decision was confirmed when the seedings were announced today.

In the case of Ferreira, the ruling works against her – as she is now the number three rather than the number two seed. But this has implications for Harrington’s gold medal ambitions. The pair are now slated to meet in the semi-final provided, of course, they win their first two fights.

The Brazilian has won all but six of her 65 amateur fights compared to Harrington’s amateur record of 69 wins, 18 losses and one draw. Interestingly, two of Ferreira’s defeats were against Finnish veteran Mira Potkonen, who beat Katie Taylor at the Rio Olympics.

The Finn was convincingly beaten in Paris by British hopeful Caroline Dubois – who in turn was overwhelmed by Harrington in the final.

But Potkonen qualified for Tokyo via the rankings system and remain a potent threat. She has beaten Harrington in their four previous clashes.

The other seeded lightweight fighters are Oh Yeon-Ji (Korea) 2nd and Simranjit Kaur Baath (India) 4th.

The ranked fighters in Michaela Walsh’s featherweight category are: 1st Lin Yu-Ting (Taiwan), 2nd Khouloud Hilmi Moulahi (Tunisia), 3rd Jucielen Romeu (Brazil).

Walsh who will be making her Olympic debut is ranked third but drops to fourth due to the Task Force ruling that the top ranked fighter from the Americans gets the third seed.

The Irish squad are currently in a training camp in Miyazaki, which is a two-hour flight from Tokyo. The USA, German and Australian boxing squads are training alongside them.

Former Irish coaches Billy Walsh and Eddie Bolger are in charge of the US and German squads respectively.

Harrington will get an opportunity to spar against US lightweight Rashida Ellis, another medal contender while former Irish champion Amy Broadhurst has travelled with the Irish party to assist Harrington in her preparations.

The full Irish boxing line-up for Tokyo is Michaela Walsh (Monkstown, Antrim) 57kg, Kellie Harrington (St Mary’s, Dublin) 60kg, Aoife O’Rourke (Castlerea, Roscommon) 75kg.

Brendan Irvine (St Paul’s, Antrim) 52kg; Kurt Walker (Canal BC) 57kg, Aidan Walsh (Monkstown, Antrim) 69kg; Emmet Brennan (Dublin Docklands) 81kg,

Irvine, the only survivor from Rio in 2016, will skipper the team. He will also be the first Irish fighter in action at the opening session in the Kokugikian Areas on Saturday, July 24.

Welterweight Aidan Walsh – a younger brother of Michaela Walsh – is also scheduled to fight unless he gets a bye in the first round. In the afternoon session on the same day Kurt Walker will make his Olympic debut.