OLYMPIC bronze medallist, Paddy Barnes, sparked off a gold rush when he claimed the light flyweight title at the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi on a day when Northern Ireland won a record three gold and two silver medals.

The 2008 National Senior Championships will begin on Tuesday, January 8 and run over four days before concluding on Friday, January 11, at the National Stadium in Dublin.

PADDY BARNES became the first Irish boxer to qualify for next year’s Olympic Games with an emphatic 33-12 points victory over the highly-rated Japanese champion, Kenju Ohkubo, in an action-packed contest at the world championships in Chicago yesterday.

Kildare man, Dominic O’Rourke of the St. Michael’s club was reinstalled as president of the Irish Amateur Boxing Association at the annual convention in Dublin yesterday.