Medal of any colour is target for Barnes

Youthful, if not brazen, confidence sent Paddy Barnes to the Olympic Games in Beijing ready to take on the best in the world and beat them.

And he might have were it not for the amazing talents of Chinese light flyweight Zou Shiming, who dished out a lesson in the finer points of boxing in a semi-final clash that left the diminutive Belfast man fuming.

It was easy to see why. He did not win the contest by any stretch of the imagination, but he had not been awarded a single point by the judges, although he clearly landed several solid shots.