Irish pair two wins away from a medal

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.

Ireland will have three boxers in action over the weekend with bantamweight John Joe Nevin and middleweight Darren O’Neill opening their campaigns in this afternoon’s first session and welterweight Adam Nolan making his debut on tomorrow night’s bill at the ExCel.

Nevin, two-time world bronze medallist who made his Olympic debut in Beijing four years ago, found himself seeded fifth for yesterday’s draw and just missed out on the fourth seed bye, which went to Anvar Yunusov, the other bronze medallist at the World Championships in Baku last year.