"I won that fight," says Joe

European champion boxer Joe Ward is devastated after his Olympic dreams came to an end this week during the qualifiers in Turkey. The 18-year-old Moate man criticised what he called ' a very harsh decision', something, he said, that was beyond his control. The highly-rated boxer said yesterday (Tuesday): "I'm devastated but there's really nothing more I could've done. I thought I controlled the fight from the first round and performed very well, and everybody watching thought the same. I felt I was ahead all along, but it soon became clear something wasn't right. I'm very, very disappointed but the judges just didn't give me anything." He had been expected to seal a place at this year's Olympics by virtue of reaching the last four at this week's AIBA European Olympic Boxing Qualifying Championships in Trabzon, Turkey. However, Ward's dreams went up in smoke when home nation opponent, Bahram Muzaffer, was awarded a controversial 18-15 victory in the light-heavyweight last 16 bout on Monday. Ward said: "As far as I'm concerned, my Olympic dream is over because of a very harsh decision. There's an awful lot of people shocked by the decision. Unfortunately, I can't control these things. I can only box to the best of my ability and I did that, but other factors came into it." Following his defeat to the Turkish boxer, the Irish camp made an official complaint about the judge's verdict, but that appeal was dismissed. Ireland head coach Billy Walsh has described the verdict as "disgraceful", while president of the IABA, Tommy Murphy suggested Ward was the victim of a harsh hometown decision. Joe is now looking forward to returning home. "I'm just very disappointed at the moment. I'm devastated and just want to get home and spend a bit of time with my family. I'll rest up for a bit and then discuss things with my people, and take it from there." * See more coverage in this week's edition of the Westmeath Independent