Barnes chasing golden moment

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.

Barnes, however, now joins fellow Belfast man Michael Conlan, double world bronze medallist John Joe Nevin and Darren O’Neill from Paulstown in the Olympic tournament.

This win was emphatic, but it was not plain sailing for Barnes who had to survive a punishing body shot early in the contest to keep his Olympic dream on track. He came back to win the round 5-3, took the second 7-3 and he coasted the third.