Argilagos ends Barnes title bid in Rio

 

Paddy Barnes' bid for another Olympic medal in boxing came to a surprise end, while world champion Joahnys Argilagos was victorious.

Barnes claimed bronze medals in the men's light fly (46-49kg) in London and Beijing, but there will be no repeat in Rio de Janeiro.

The Republic of Ireland's flag bearer suffered a narrow loss to Spaniard Samuel Carmona Heredia in the preliminaries on Monday.

Argilagos fared better in the same category, winning a tight bout against Galal Yafai on points.

In the men's heavy (91kg), Evgeny Tishchenko was a victor, while Zhanibek Alimkhanuly beat Brit Antony Fowler in the middle (75kg).

HIGHLIGHTS

Targeting a third Olympic medal, Barnes fell short against Carmona Heredia, losing a tough battle on points.

Two judges scored the fight 29-28 in the 20-yard-old Spaniard's favour, while the other had Barnes a 29-28 victor.

It was just as tight for Argilagos, winner at the world championships last year, as he edged Brit Yafai 2-1.

Far more convincing was Evgeny Tishchenko, another world champion, who outclassed local hope Juan Nogueira.

 QUOTES

"He is a world champion, it was a difficult fight. I thought I won but I try not to be too biased. I'm not going to say that I got robbed. Three-round fights can go anywhere, you can have a bad first round and good second, then it's all on the last round," - a disappointed Yafai said, having come so close to an upset win.

"It did affect my preparations and influence how ready I was for this fight a little bit. I only knew that I would be able to fight on Thursday. It's a pity that politics has influenced our sport as boxers from Russia have never been involved in doping. But I don't feel angry. Our job is to perform so I'm fully focused on this," - Tishchenko said, annoyed by the late decision by the IOC to clear most Russian athletes for the Games.

"I just made the weight this morning. About six weeks ago, I was 58 kilos and now I'm down to 49. Halfway through the first round, I felt so tired," - Barnes lamented weight problems after his shock loss.