Egan denied gold medal

Ireland's Kenny Egan had to settle for a silver medal at the Workers' Gymnasium on Sunday after losing his Olympic light-heavyweight final 11-7 to Chinese favourite Xiaoping Zhang.

Egan was always chasing the contest after Zhang edged into a two-point lead at the end of the first round and was never able to level matters, staying two points adrift heading into the final round.

Veteran southpaw Egan desperately tried to redress the balance but left himself open for Zhang to extend his lead. At the final bell, a disconsolate Egan slumped to the canvas.

Egan insisted he was not worried by the scoring system in the bout, but admitted it had been hard to adjust to the different points awarded throughout the Games.

"The score's the score and I still get a medal," he said. "The whole games have been great and a silver is still brilliant.

"Over the past two weeks I don't think anyone's appreciated how hard it's been. Shoulder slaps get scored.

"All I could do was get in there and box."

Coach Billy Walsh added: "You've got to keep working, hunt down every point, which isn't Kenny's game. He needs to get ahead early on."