Kellie Harrington became the second Irish boxer to guarantee a medal at the European Women's Boxing Championships ©IABA

Kellie Harrington became the second Irish boxer to guarantee a medal at the European Women's Boxing Championships as she beat Ukrane's Iulia Tsyplakova in her lightweight quarter-final bout in Sofia today.

Harrington comfortably overcame Tsyplakova 4-1 to reach the semi-finals at the Asics Arena in the Bulgarian capital.

The Irish athlete is due to face face world and Olympic bronze medallist Mira Potkonen of Finland for a place in the gold medal bout.

Potkonen booked her semi-final place with a 5-0 demolition of Poland's Aneta Rygielska to set up a meeting with Harrington.

The bout has added spice as the Finnish athlete is a well-known adversary of Irish boxers having beaten Katie Taylor at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Elsewhere in the lightweight division, Russia's Anastasiia Beliakova, who shared the Olympic bronze medal with Potkonen at Rio 2016, battled through to the semi-finals with victory over Ala Yarshevich of Belarus.

Russia's Anastasiia Beliakova was among other winners as preliminary round action concluded ©Getty Images
Russia's Anastasiia Beliakova was among other winners as preliminary round action concluded ©Getty Images

Beliakova was made to work hard for her semi-final berth and narrowly progressed by virtue of a 3-2 split decision.

Maria Urkova was among the other Russian winners today as she claimed a unanimous 5-0 triumph in her light heavyweight bout with Milena Matovic of Serbia.

The Italian team has already seen reigning world champion Alessia Mesiano make an early exit for the tournament but Flavia Severin Assunta Canfora both continue to fly the country's flag.

Severin beat Tetiana Shevchenko of Ukraine 4-1 to reach the semi-finals of the heavyweight division, while Canfora progressed at welterweight with a convincing 5-0 win against French opponent Emilie Sonvico.

The top ten ranked boxers in the 51kg, 57kg, 60kg, 69kg and 75kg categories will be given quota places for next year's European Games in Minsk.

Tomorrow is a rest day before semi-finals are due to place on Monday (June 11).