O’Rourke sisters included in Irish team for European Elite Boxing Championships
Aoife and Lisa O'Rourke are back in the Irish team for the upcoming European Elite Boxing Championships in Bulgaria.
Castlerea siblings, Aoife and Lisa O’Rourke, have been included in the Irish team to contest the 2026 European Elite Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria.
The championships, which are a World Boxing ranking event in which 33 federations are eligible to participate, will take place between September 15th and 26th.
The Irish team also includes double Olympic champion, Kellie Harrington, and six other Paris Olympians — Daina Moorehouse (51kg), Jenny Lehane (54kg), Jude Gallagher (60kg), Dean Clancy (65kg), Jack Marley (90kg) and Michaela Walsh (57kg).
Aoife O’Rourke is a double Olympian, reigning world champion, and four-time continental champion, while her younger sister Lisa was world champion in 2022 and a world silver medalist in 2025.
The team has been in camp since July and, as part of the final part of their preparations, Boxing Ireland will host a multi-nations sparring camp at the High Performance Unit at the Institute of Sport, from September 2nd to 9th. Participating nations will include Poland, Hungary and Finland.
The camp will form an important final phase of the preparation programme, giving Team Ireland the opportunity to work against high-quality international opposition before travelling to Bulgaria.
