Tickets to Rio for Paddy Barnes and Michael Conlan

Ireland’s London 2012 bronze medallists Michael Conlan and Paddy Barnes secured quota places for the Rio 2016 Olympics after recording dramatic wins in the World Series of Boxing (WSB) in Venezuela on Saturday.

The Belfast duo, boxing for Italia Thunder v Venezuela in the WSB, punched their tickets for the 31st Olympiad on a tense night for Irish boxing at the Estadio Polideportivo venue in Maiquetía.

Barnes beat Finol Rivas on a split decision (49-45, 49-45, 47-48) to earn the four points he needed to finish on top of the light-flyweight table ahead of Uzbekistan’s Hasanboy Dusmatov.