OLYMPICS Barnes seals Irish Olympic medal

19 Aug 2008

Light Flyweight Paddy Barnes is guaranteed a boxing medal after defeating Lukasck Maszczyk of Poland (11-5) in today's quarter-final bout at the Workers Stadium (Tuesday).

Barnes, the first Irish boxer to qualify for the Beijing Olympics, has followed up that achievement with Ireland's first Olympic medal at these Games.

The Belfast native boxing out of the renowned Holy Family Club, has been supported by the Irish Sports Council's High Performance programme for over three years.

Barnes now advances to the semi-final and a likely bout against China's Zou Shiming.

This afternoon also see's team captain and light heavyweight Kenneth Egan taking on Brazilian Washington Silva with middleweight Darren Sutherland taking on Venezuela's Alfonso Blanco Parra tomorrow for further Olympic success.