Adam Nolan has savoured it already, but this will be young Michael Conlan’s first taste of the unique Olympic atmosphere when he joins the Wexford man on tonight’s bill at the ExCel, with the Irish camp bidding to get back on the winning trail after yesterday’s first boxing loss.

Beijing bronze medallist Paddy Barnes and fellow Belfast man Michael Conlan are just two wins away from a medal at the Olympic Games following yesterday’s draw which threw up some interesting pairings.

It was generally accepted that boxing took a step backwards in Trabzon when teenage sensation, Joe Ward, was dumped out of the Olympic qualifying tournament on the back of what was a dreadful decision that robbed the 2012 Olympic Games of one of the best boxers in the world.

One of Ireland’s prime Olympic medal hopes, boxer Paddy Barnes, has been left stunned by the latest world rankings which have resulted in him falling off the list just weeks before the Games begin in London.

Ireland’s Joe Ward has failed to get the nod from the Olympic Tripartite Committee when they finally nominated the boxers to complete the line up for the Olympic tournament in London.

Adam Nolan, with Olympic qualification secured, rounded off a memorable week with the gold medal around his neck after beating the teak tough German welterweight Patrick Wojcicki on countback at the Olympic qualifying tournament in Trabzon.

The controversial defeat suffered by Olympic medal hope Joe Ward in Trabzon on Monday highlighted once again a problem that has been endemic in boxing down the years.

“THE heathers will be blazing in Wexford tonight,” Irish coach Billy Walsh predicted as he embraced fellow county man Adam Nolan, who yesterday became the second man from the Model County to qualify for an Olympic Games — Billy himself having qualified for the Seoul Olympics in 1988.

Paddy Barnes was fortunate he was qualified for the Olympics before facing Turkish light flyweight Ferhat Pehlivan in yesterday’s semi-final in Trabzon because he was beaten in a result that will rank right up there with the big hometown decisions — although not as bad as the Joe Ward fiasco which cost him his place in London 2012.

Adam Nolan has become the fifth Irish boxer to qualify for the London Olympics after his semi-final win over Romania’s Ionut Gheorghe in Trabzon, Turkey today.

The Irish Amateur Boxing Association (IABA) yesterday formally requested the president of the world governing AIBA for his assistance in their bid to have Joe Ward considered for inclusion in the London Olympics.

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

The bid to rekindle Joe Ward’s Olympic flame is far from over after IABA officials spent yesterday in Trabzon winning support to get the Moate teenager to London 2012.

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.

Adam Nolan just can’t wait to touch gloves with Tamerlan Abdullayer (Azerbaijain) in Trabzon this evening.

Paddy Barnes joined David Oliver Joyce, Adam Nolan and Tommy McCarthy in the quarter-finals of the AIBA European Olympic qualifying event with an inside the distance win in Trabzon, Turkey yesterday.

Irish boxing was left reeling last night when Moate light heavyweight Joe Ward lost 18-15 to Turkey’s Bahram Muzaffer in the Olympic qualifying tournament in Trabzon.

European light-heavyweight champion Joe Ward got Ireland’s campaign off to a flying start on the opening day of the final Olympic qualifiers for European male boxers in Trabzon, Turkey yesterday.

The European Olympic boxing qualifying tournament which was due to start today has had to be put back until tomorrow due to fog enveloping the Black Sea city of Trabzon.

Coach Billy Walsh last night admitted he could “not be happier” as the seven-man Irish boxing team touched down in Trabzon, Turkey yesterday ahead of the European Olympic qualifier which begins on Saturday.

With his second Elite senior championship medal safely stashed away alongside world championship youth, junior and European senior gold medals, Joe Ward’s quest for Olympic qualification continues when he joins the other champions at an intensive training regime under Billy Walsh at The Curragh.

Con Sheehan (Clonmel BC) will go to the scales in pursuit of a fifth successive national senior title tomorrow morning as a fully fledged super heavyweight.

Inter Milan coach Claudio Ranieri praised his players for overcoming a Champions League “handicap” to reach the knockout stages as Group B winners last night.

RUAIRI FINNEGAN (Letterkenny AC), a finalist at the world youths championships a couple of weeks ago, claimed the gold medal in the 1,500m at the European Youth Olympics in Trabzon, Turkey, yesterday.

At least 10 passengers were killed when a Turkish bus hit a road sign, overturned and burst into flames, officials said today.

LIVERPOOL manager Roy Hodgson insists he wants to build his team around people like Dirk Kuyt and has no intention of selling him.

LIVERPOOL manager Roy Hodgson has suggested forces are at work behind the scenes in an attempt to lure forward Dirk Kuyt to Inter Milan.

Liverpool will be without captain Steven Gerrard and striker Fernando Torres for their Europa League play-off second leg against Trabzonspor in Turkey tomorrow.

Liverpool 1 Trabzonspor 0

HARRY REDKNAPP was yesterday taking nothing for granted after Tottenham were handed the easiest possible route to the Champions League proper.

A Catholic bishop was stabbed to death in Turkey today, a day before he was due to meet the pope.

Republic of Ireland U-21 boss Don Givens will be forced to make changes as he attempts to end his wait for a European Championship qualifying victory in Armenia.

An Atlasjet plane crashed shortly before it was to land in central Turkey this morning, killing all 56 people on board, the airline’s chief executive said.

A British pilot and his Pakistani passenger were killed when their small two-seater plane crashed in northern Turkey, the local governor said today.

Thousands gathered outside the bilingual Turkish and Armenian newspaper Agos early today to mourn its editor, murdered in an attack that has shocked Turkey.

A teenager detained over the killing of an ethnic Armenian journalist has confessed to the killing, the prosecutor said today.

POPE Benedict XVI washed the feet of 12 men yesterday, re-enacting Jesus’s washing of his apostles’ feet during the Last Supper and saying the act cleansed the “filth” of mankind.

Pope Benedict XVI humbly washed the feet of 12 men today, re-enacting Jesus’ washing of his apostles’ feet during the last supper and saying the act cleansed the “filth” of mankind.

Turkish police today arrested a 16-year-old student as the suspected killer of an Italian Catholic priest.

EUROPE’S relentless deep freeze, with sub-zero temperatures as far south as Sicily, have claimed several dozen more victims, closed schools and disrupted air, road and sea traffic.

Experts were struggling today to identify the charred remains of more than 60 Spanish peacekeepers who were killed when their plane crashed into a remote mountain in north-west Turkey.

CLOSE to the twisted wreckage of their plane , a light rain fell gently upon a picture of the Spanish peacekeepers who died when it crashed into a Turkish mountain yesterday.

MORE than 30 charred bodies were retrieved from the wreckage of an aeroplane carrying Spanish peacekeepers that crashed into a mountain in northeastern Turkey yesterday.

A Ukrainian passenger plane carrying 74 people, most of them Spanish military personnel serving in Afghanistan, crashed early today in north west Turkey, Turkish news reports said.