Two-time Olympic medallist Paddy Barnes crashed out of the 44th Usti nad Labem Grand Prix in the Czech Republic at the quarter-final stage yesterday with a nose injury.

The Belfast fighter, who has moved up to flyweight from light-fly, was retired in the third versus Kazakhstan’s London 2012 Olympian IIyas Sulimenov.

“Paddy was ahead after the first and they were level going into the third, said Ireland head coach Billy Walsh. “He was having a good round but he got clipped with a right and he had a nose bleed.The doctor examined him and stopped it. It’s not broken, thankfully, just swollen.”

Irish Elite champions Seán McComb and Ross Hickey advanced to today’s semi-finals with wins over Lithuania Gytis Vaitkus and Austria Khamsad Musaev.