Paddy Barnes
Patrick " Paddy " Barnes ( born April 9, 1987 in Belfast, Northern Ireland) is an Irish boxer. He represented Ireland in the light flyweight at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and the 2012 Olympic Games in London, where he won a bronze medal.
Career
Regional and National successes
Barnes fights for boxing club Holy Family ABC in Belfast and won the Regional Championships of Ulster in the years 2005 to 2008. In the national championships in 2005 he was junior champion and third in the men. Then he met in the finals again and again to Jimmy Moore of the St. Francis club in Limerick. In 2006, he lost this battle, but was able to prevail in 2007 and 2008. In 2009, he won the title without a fight. In 2010, he won again in the final against Jimmy Moore and 2011 against Evan Metcalfe. 2012 was his final opponent Hugh Myres and even these he could strike.
International Championships and Tournaments
Barnes represented Northern Ireland at the Commonwealth Games 2005 in Scotland. In the quarterfinals, he beat this Michael Rantso from Botswana, but lost in the semi-final against the Welsh Mo Nasir. For his participation in 2006 he was defeated in the quarterfinals already. His opponent was Simanga Shiba from Swaziland.
The second Zlatko Hrbic Memorial Tournament in Croatia in 2007 he had to in the semifinals of the French Redouane Asloum beaten. When held in the same year three Nations Cup in Heidelberg, however, he was able to avenge that defeat. His first major tournament victory, he was able to record at the Commonwealth Games 2007. Here he struck impressive Hassan Fikiri from Tanzania in the semi-final and the final of the Indian Nanao Singh In the EU Championships in 2007 Barnes was forced to retire due to an eye injury in the first fight.
In the EU Championships 2008 in Cetniewo, Poland, he won the silver medal and lost in the final against Hungary Pal Bedak.
In 2009, he took with success in the traditional 24.Ahmet - Comert tournament in Istanbul, Turkey part. He suggested here in the quarterfinals Nadir Bahishan from Pakistan and in the semifinals Rasul Djurayev from Uzbekistan. The final battle against the Turks Ferhat Pehlivan he could not compete due to an injury and became second.
2010 succeeded Paddy Barner at the European Championships in Moscow, the biggest success in his career, because he was there with wins over Istvan Lakatos, Hungary ( 12:4 ), Tommy Stubbs, England (8:1), Kelvin de la Nieve, Spain ( 6:3 ) and Elvin Mamischsadeh, Azerbaijan (4:1) European champion in the weight class up to 48 kg. He also won the Commonwealth Games in the same year.
2013 Barnes won at the European Championships 2013 in Minsk the silver medal. He lost in the final against the Russians David Hajrapetjan.
World Championships
In the box world championships in 2007 in Chicago Barnes had to play favorites and eventual champion Zhou Shiming of China after victories against the North Koreans Jon Kuk Chol, the Iranians Sadeg Farajzadeh and the Japanese Kenji Ohkubo in the quarterfinals. He lost that fight clearly with 22:8. However, he qualified by reaching the quarter-finals for the 2008 Olympic Games.
2009 in Milan lost Barnes at the World Championships already his first fight against the Kenyan Peter Mungai and in 2011 in Baku was not successful and lost again in the first fight against the Philippines Mark Anthony Barriga.
Olympic Games 2008
In Beijing Barnes suggested in the preliminary round Jose Luis Meza of Ecuador with 14:8 and in the quarterfinals Poland Łukasz Maszczyk with 11:5. Against this he had previously lost yet clear to countries fighting almost a year. In the semifinals he met again on the Chinese Zhou Shiming, who was given again clearly beaten with 12:15. However, he was able to take home the bronze medal.
Olympic Games 2012
Due to its poor ranking on the 2011 World Championships Barnes had to take to qualify for the 2012 Olympics in London by way of the European qualifying tournament in Ankara. Here he reached after a defeat against the Turks Ferhat Pehlivan the 3rd place and was thus able to qualify for the Olympic Games, where he won a bronze medal. He was drafted by victories against Thomas Essomba from Cameroon and Laishram Singh from India to the semifinals, where he lost to the Chinese Zhou Shiming just after auxiliary points ( 15:15 ).