Belfast featherweight Michaela Walsh has had to settle for silver after losing in the final at the European Games in Minsk.

The former EU champion was beaten on a 4-1 split decision against Bulgaria's Stanimira Petrova.

The 26-year old stunned the reigning world champion Ornella Wahner of Germany in the quarter-finals to book a fight against Daria Abramova.

In the semi-final against the Russian she came out with the nod from three of the five judges.

After the loss in the final earlier, Walsh said: "I'm really heartbroken. But at the end of the day, this all a lead up to Tokyo and I just have to accept what it is.

She believed that she had done enough throughout the fight to get Ireland a gold medal at the games, "I thought I got it, but it is what it is".

Next Summer, she will be taking part at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, which begin on July 24th.

She says that she will have to train harder and "move on" from the loss today. Michaela said she will "go back to the drawing board, I guess."

Speaking after reaching the European Games final, the Belfast boxer said, "this is what dreams are made of. People think it’s just one week, two weeks.

"There are months, years of training since I started boxing. Every tournament I go to the aim is the Olympic Games and I’m just one fight away from it."

"I got one of the hardest draws here, beat a world champion and European champion. The level here was so high".

Dublin boxer Kellie Harrington will be fighting for gold tomorrow in the lightweight finals.

She overcame Agnes Alexiusson of Sweden in the semi-final yesterday by unanimous decision, and will go onto face Mira Potkonen from Finland.

Harrington described the win as "what dreams are made of", and said it is a fantastic achievement for "a girl out of Dublin 1".

Potkonen defeated Katie Taylor in the 2016 Olympic quarter-final in Rio.