JOE Ward’s last ditch effort to join the Irish Boxing Olympic team proved unsuccessful according to media reports this afternoon.

The 18 year old brought an appeal to the Court of Arbitration of Sport in London last night and was hoping to be awarded a wild card slot on the London Games.
However, his €50,000 appeal was rejected and the Moate man mountain faces a decision as to go whether to go professional or hang around for Rio 2016.

Ward missed out at qualifying after controversially losing to Turkish fighter Bahram Muzaffer in the final Olympic qualifier and was seeking some form of justice from

The European champion was deemed a medal hope and will reflect on a poor display in the World Championships in Baku- when he was just one win away from a place on the plane to London 2012- with as much frustration as the unsuccessful appeal process.