Conlan and Barnes lead NI challenge

BOXING: Olympic boxing bronze medallists Michael Conlan and Paddy Barnes will lead a team of 117 Northern Ireland athletes to the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow next month.

The pair form part of an 11-strong boxing squad hoping to replicate their heroics four years ago in Delhi, when they won five medals.

Conlan said: “I went to Delhi thinking I was going to do great but everything went pear-shaped, and the memory of that has driven me on ever since.”

Women’s boxing will make its Commonwealth Games debut for the first time and Conlan is convinced Belfast’s Michaela Walsh can challenge Nicola Adams for the 51kg gold medal.

Conlan added: “Michaela spars at the same club as Paddy, and Paddy says when he hits her as hard as he can, she just turns around and laughs at him.”