Ireland boxer Grainne Walsh sounds off on controversial referee call following first round defeat...

GRÁINNE WALSH was heartbroken after she became the third Irish boxer to fall at the first hurdle.

Walsh lost by split decision to Anna Luca Hamori.

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The Hungarian was docked a point for holding in the second round but could easily have been penalised in the first and third rounds too.

And the Offaly woman said: “It's hard to put it into words.

"The bottom line of all of this is just pure frustration.

“I feel like my team put together a great plan and I tried to carry out that plan as much as I could.

“She just smothered me from early on and I just feel like I didn't get a flow at all.

“I'm not blaming her for it. Look, she did what she had to do to win the fight.

“Obviously there was the points deduction in the second round but it didn't really change much, did it?

“I was glad that he did penalise her for it but, when you've penalised, she should have maybe been like, ‘oh God, I don't want to get another warning’, but actually, she didn't step back at all.

“I do feel like he could have warned her more because it didn't stop her.

"It actually encouraged her to continue doing it and I was getting continuously frustrated.

"I don't know if you could see that in there, but I tried not to let my emotions get the better of me.

“It’s just very annoying when you're trusting and someone to let a fight go free-flowing and it doesn't turn out that way.

“I can beat that girl 10 times out of 10. But it just didn't happen.

“We had a plan but I’m not an eejit either.

"I know she's making a plan to beat me and counteract what I'm going to do.

"You have to be able to adapt with what's in front of you and I just wasn't able to do what.”

The 28-year-old said that in time she would appreciate the achievement of competing at the Olympics, having booked her place in the final qualifier in Bangkok just two months ago.

She previously had to overcome a thumb issue which required multiple operations.

She said: “The Olympics comes around only once every four years and it's a shame but I'm very proud of myself for getting this far.

“Nothing takes away from how difficult it has been to get me to this position, and the people that have helped me along the way and stood by me because there's an awful lot of people that come and go.

“There's a handful that stick with you through the darkest of days and I had many of them.

“So yeah, I'm tremendously proud to be able to call myself an Olympian forever, just disappointed I didn't probably show her the best version of Gráinne.”