Three-time Olympian Paddy Barnes led out Team Ireland at a colourful Opening Ceremony for the 2016 Olympic Games at the Maracana Stadium in Rio tonight.

“It’s a huge honour to have been chosen to fly the flag on behalf of my country,”said the Belfast light-flyweight,a two-time Olympic medallist.

The Holy Family BC man was the 99th flag bearer of 207 proud emblem carriers leading their teams at the Parade of Nations at the famed football venue.

An estimated TV audience of 3 billion observed proceedings.

Barnes was following in the footsteps of the Irish flag bears of Olympiads past and current, including Matt Flanagan (Amsterdam 1928, Garda BC), Tony “Socks” Byrne (Melbourne 1956, Tredagh BC), Jim McCourt (Mexico City 1968, Immaculata BC), Wayne McCullough (Seoul 1988, Albert Foundry BC), Francie Barrett (Atlanta 1996, Olympic BC) and Katie Taylor (London 2012, Bray BC).

Taylor,who also took part in tonight’s curtain raiser, McCullough, McCourt, Byrne and Barnes have claimed one gold, one silver and four bronze medals between them since 1956 and are an integral part of Irish boxing’s proud Olympic boxing legacy.

“All of us have worked so hard to get to this point,but now it is time to really deliver,”added Barnes ahead of tonight’s ceremony.

“I’m going to enjoy the occasion (opening ceremony) of course, but I can’t wait to get in the ring for my first bout and start my quest for gold.”

Barnes was one of nine boxers to lead out his/her nation this evening, along with Azerbaijan’s Teymur Mammadov, Dieudonne Wilfried Seyi Ntsengue of Cameroon, Jennifer Chieng for Federated States of Micronesia, Iraq’s Waheed Abdulridha, Jordan’s Hussein Eshaish Iashaish, Erkin Adylbek Uulu of Kyrgyzstan, Jonas Junias for Namibia and Uzbekistan’s Bakhodir Jalolov.

Cheing received an invitation place in Katie Taylor’s lightweight class from the Tripartite Commission.

“We’ve got our greatest female athlete,Katie Taylor, going for her second gold medal;Paddy Barnes in his third Games is going for his third medal, what an athlete, said ex WBA World champion Bernard Dunne on tonight’s live Opening cermony broadcast on RTE.

“Michael Conlan,(Steven) Donnelly,(Brendan) Irvine,(David Oliver) Joyce, big Joe Ward – that is the best boxing team we’ve sent to a Games.”

Tonight’s Opening Ceremony marks the official start of the 2016 Olympic Games.Steven Donnelly and David Oliver Joyce get Ireland’s campaign in the boxing ring underway at the 9,000 capacity Pavilion 6 venue on Sunday.

Click here for draws and schedule.

Boxing begins tomorrow in Rio.

Day 1 schedule

Boxing2016 – Rio 2016 Olympic Games Entry Men’s 60KG Draw Sheets

Please see below attachment for Circular for Men’s U/18 Championships at Dublin’s National Stadium.

Boxing begins on Friday, August 19.

Provincial weigh-ins on Sunday, August 14.

The IABA are using the tournament as part of their selection process for the AIBA World Men’s Youth Championships in St Petersburg, Russia from November 14 to 27.

Paddy Barnes will proudly lead out Team Ireland at what is expected to be a spectacular Opening Ceremony for the 2016 Olympics in Rio tonight.

Click here for Irish draw and draw sheets.

The three-time Irish Olympian is Irish flag bearer for the Parade of Nations at the host city for the 31st Olympiad.

A TV audience of three billion is expected to watch the ceremony.

Barnes is the 7th Irish boxer after Matt Flanagan in 1928 – and the second successive Irish boxer after Katie Taylor at London 2012 – to perform the honours.

Live coverage of the ceremony begins at 11.30pm on RTÉ 2 tonight.

The opening ceremony will be held at the Maracana football stadium, a famed venue which once featured the talents of Edson Arantes do Nascimento, or Pele for short.

Approximately 11,000 athletes will take part in the Opening Ceremony to mark the official start of the Games.

Barnes, a two-time Olympic medallist, is incredibly honoured to be Irish flag bearer.

“I’m delighted to have been asked to carry the Irish flag into the Olympic Stadium at the Opening Ceremony, said the Belfast light-flyweight

“It’s an amazing feeling to represent Ireland at an Olympic Games and I’ve been lucky enough to experience it twice before. Going to my third Olympic Games as the flag bearer for Team Ireland now is just an incredible honour.

“I will be going for gold in Rio in the ring, but I will also have the responsibility of helping to build a really positive environment for all Irish athletes,” added the Holy Family BC man who qualified for Rio after winning all seven of his fights to secure the one Olympic berth in the World Series of Boxing 49kg class last year.

Please see below attachments for draw sheets at Rio Olympics.

David Oliver Joyce and Steven Donnelly get proceedings underway for Irish boxing on Sunday. Joe Ward got the No.4 seed in the light-heavyweight class, while Uzbekistan’s Eshod Rasulov, who Ward has beaten twice,is the No. 3 seed….

London 2012 lightweight Katie Taylor received a bye into the quarter-finals and is one win away from claiming a second Olympics medal, while World Elite champion Michael Conlan got a bye into the last 16.

Boxing2016 – Rio 2016 Olympic Games Entry Men’s 69KG Draw Sheets

Boxing2016 – Rio 2016 Olympic Games Entry Men’s 60KG Draw Sheets

Irish Draw Rio Olympics

August 7th (last 32)

60kg David Oliver Joyce (Ireland) v Andrique Allisop (Seychelles)

69kg Stephen Donnelly (Ireland) v Zahir Kedache (Algeria)

August 8th (last 16)

49kg Paddy Barnes (Ireland) v Artur Havhannisyan (Armenia) or Samuel Carmona (Spain)

August 10th (last 16)

81kg Joe Ward (Ireland) v Serge Michel (Germany) or Andrea Mina (Ecuador)

August 12th (last 16)

75kg Michael O’Reilly (Ireland) v Uziel Rodriquez (Mexico) or Waheed Karawi (Iraq)

August 13th (last 32)

52kg Brendan Irvine (Ireland) v Shakhobidin Zoirov (Uzbekistan)

August 14th (last 16)

56kg Michael Conlan (Ireland) v Aram Avagyan (Armenia) or Arashi Mariska (Japan)

August 15th (Q/Finals)

60kg Katie Taylor (Ireland) v Mira Potkonen (Finland) or Adriana Araujo (Brazil)