Calum French is up and running at the Commonwealth Games after easing past Ali Ahmad.
The lightweight, from Gateshead, had to wait until Monday to tale his first steps, having watched Birtley and England team-mates, the McCormack twins, make confident progress already into the quarter-finals.
And French made it three Birtley stars in the last eight with a supreme performance against his opponent, from Pakistan, in the U60 kilo round of 16 at the Gold coast.
The 22-year-old won on all five of the scorecards, the judges from Trinidad, Japan, Poland and USA all marking it 30-26 with the Fiji judge having it even wider at 30-25.
French tackles Manish Kashik in the last eight on Wednesday after the Indian outpointed Michael Alexander, from Trinidad & Tobogo.
Pat and Luke McCormack both have quarter-final contests on Tuesday.
Luke meets Aussie Liam Wilson at U64 kilos, while at U69 kilos, Pat takes on Uganda’s Musa Bwogi.
Words: Roy Kelly
