Joe Ward going for World gold and to Rio 2016 after semi final win

Joe Ward will join Paddy Barnes and Michael Conlan on the plane to Rio 2016 after he eased past Elshod Rasulov in Doha this evening.

The Moate light heavyweight followed team captain Micheal Conlan into the World Championship final with a 3-0 win over the Uzbekistan puncher.

The Irish southpaw upgraded his bronze medal to at least silver after beating Rasulov in the 81kg semi-final by a final scores of 29-28,29-28,29-28 to Ward.

The top two light-heavyweights in Doha qualify for Rio 2016 so Ward now has the chance to add Olympic medals to the World and two European Golds he has already banked.

Ward’s win means Thursday will be a historic day for Irish sport as it will be the first Ireland will have two fighters compete in World Championship finals- Conlan will also go gold when he contests the bantamweight decider.