– Niall Kelly reports from Riocentro, Rio de Janeiro
ZAUR ANTIA COMMITTED his future to Irish boxing last night as the country’s nightmare in the Rio ring came to an end.
Bantamweight top seed Michael Conlan was robbed of a place in the semi-finals and a second Olympic medal by a brutal judging decision against Vladimir Nikitin.
And the Belfast boxer lashed out at boxing bosses, branding them “fucking cheats” in an explosive TV interview.
“Now I am going home without medals and I’m sorry about that,” Antia, the interim head coach, said.
Ireland arrived in Brazil with an eight-strong team and a host of strong medal prospects but leave empty-handed after a disastrous tournament which started with Michael O’Reilly’s expulsion for a failed doping test and ended with Conlan on the receiving end of a farcical decision.
“I am very confident to continue my work,” Antia said. ”I’m 100% sure we can make other Olympians.
“Ireland is very strong. We have a very good team, we have a good young second team, the reserve boxers are very good. We can train them.
This can be a good example and good lesson for us. What to do, how to change?
Antia, who has been working in Irish boxing since 2003, was linked last week with a move to take over as Canada’s high performance chief.
But he indicated on Tuesday that he still has unfinished business with this Irish team.
“Before I came there were no medals for three Olympic Games,” he said. “Then me, Billy Walsh, Gary Keegan, we started together.
“For the first Olympic Games there was no medal again, only Andy Lee we had. Then we had three medals, then we had four medals.
Sometimes when you go high you drop as well. This is the process.
Speaking a few minutes after Conlan’s controversial loss, Antia said that the judges had “kept the last round for the Russian.”
“Here the boxers lost close fights but they lost. But in my opinion these two boxers, Katie and Michael, could go home with gold medals. Definitely.
Now I am going home without medals and I’m sorry about that.
“Of course,” he agreed, when asked if amateur boxing’s judging system needs to be fixed.
“Not only Ireland here, many countries have had problems.
“They need to refresh. They need to change things because it’s no good when they do not give the correct decision.
“How can you bring a gold medal home? It’s very difficult.”
