Barnes proud in defeat after losing out on glory by one punch

Usually a loss diminishes your reputation but for Paddy Barnes, following a gut-wrenching countback defeat, he walked out of the ring with his head held high.

Old foe Shiming Zou (China) ended his hopes in the light flyweight semi-final, just as he had done four years ago in Beijing.

That day Zou won 15-0, which infuriated Barnes who knew, as did everybody else, that he had scored at least six and possibly seven points. Yesterday the fight was tied 15-15 after three fast and furious rounds and when it went to a countback the score was 45-44.