The three remaining Irish boxers in the Olympic qualification tournament in Trabzon will be back in action in today’s semi-finals.

Beijing Olympic bronze medallist Paddy Barnes is through to his second Olympic Games and vowed to come back with a medal of “a better colour”, after defeating Stefan Caslarov (Romania) 17-9 in yesterday’s quarter-finals on a memorable day at the qualifiers in Trabzon where welterweight Adam Nolan and heavyweight Tommy McCarthy also kept their hopes alive with big wins.

Joe Ward’s defeat at the Olympic qualifying tournament stunned everyone but the local fans who arrived to cheer their hometown hero Bahram Muzaffer after the Turk had managed to extract an 18-15 victory from the judges.