Paddy Barnes must settle for bronze as Olympic dream ends

by liamssoft | August 10, 2012 at 07:15 am

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THERE was heartbreak for Belfast's Paddy Barnes in the ExCel Arena today as his Olympic odyssey came to an end in a count-back defeat at the hand's of China's Shiming Zou.

It was a case of history repeating itself for the Belfast light-fly as he bowed out of the Beijing Games to the same opponent. This fight was a galaxy removed from that however. In China, Barnes was deemed not to have landed a single scoring punch in a 0-15 defeat. The verdict prompted Barnes into a fit of rage, suggesting the judges needed to be drug-tested.

But he was a different fighter today, landing five scores against the evasive world and Olympic champion in the first round alone, after which Barnes trailed 5-8.

That was the end of Zou's supremacy though and, in a wonderful fight back, Barnes drew the second round 3-3 before launching an all-out assault in a desperate late charge for victory. He almost pulled it off too, being given the third 7-4 which meant it was a 15-15 draw and decided on count-back.

The Chinese was deemed have landed a higher aggregate of punches and was, therefore, deemed the winner.

After the fight Paddy Barnes paid tribute to his opponent and admitted: "The first round cost me the fight.”

Source: independent.ie