Team Ireland Bags Two Gold, Two Silver At European Championships

Paddy Barnes was out of today’s European light-flyweight final with Russia’s David Ayrapetyan in Minsk, Belarus because of a fractured nose.

Irish head coach Billy Walsh confirmed that following a meeting with Barnes last night that they had decided to withdraw the Belfast man.

“The safety of our boxers is more important than gold medals”, said Walsh.

Barnes’ nose was bleeding in yesterday’s semi-final victory over Salman Alizada of Azerbaijan and he needed attention from the ringside doctor during the bout.

Ayrapetyan will now receive the 49kg gold medal on a walkover. Barnes, a gold medal winner at the 2010 European Championships, will receive silver.

Full results…

The Irish Amateur Boxing Association will hold a press conference at Dublin Airport tomorrow evening immediately after welcoming home Ireland’s European Championships heroes.

The ten-man Irish squad are due to arrive home via Dublin Airport at 7.40pm tomorrow, June 9th.

John Joe Nevin (Gold), Jason Quigley (Gold), Paddy Barnes (Silver) and Michael Conlan (Silver) finished in podium positions at the 40th European Championships in Minsk, Belarus today.

Nevin also scooped the Boxer of the Championships award in the Belarusian capital.