Nolan Edged out in Kazakhstan

Adam Nolan bowed out of the AIBA World Elite Men’s Championships at the last-64 stage today. The Bray BC welterweight lost a 2-1 split decision to France’s Souleymane Cissokho in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Nolan was awarded all three rounds by the Brazilian judge, who scored it 10-9 across the board for the Wexford southpaw. But the Azerbaijani and Danish judges leaned in favour of Cissokho (9-10,10-9,9-10) and  (10-9,9-10,9-10) for two of the three frames. Nolan, who beat Cissokho on a split decision in France in August, started the 69kg three-rounder well.  Using his height and reach advantage in his favour, the Irish champion clipped the French orthodox with some good backhands in the opening three minutes. Cissokho had his moments in the second, but Nolan was still finding the target with counters in a contest in which both boxers were ticked off by the ref for holding and not breaking. Nolan connected with two solid shots going down the final stretch in the third, but got clipped sliding along the ropes in the final 20 seconds. Ireland’s boxers will be back in action again on Friday. Paddy Barnes, Ray Moylette and Tommy McCarthy will be between the ropes for last-32 bouts.