Ireland will take part in the London Test event for Boxing between the 24-27th November 2011.
It will be an opportunity to test out the venue at London’s Excel Centre.
Competing team officials with also have the opportunity to visit Olympic Park prior to competition.
Details of the Irish delegation led by Head Coaches Billy Walsh and Zaur Antia will be made available in due course.
Ken Egan is hoping that next week’s Olympic Test event in London will be a dry run for London 2012 after he was named in a six-strong Irish squad for the tournament, which begins next Thursday at the ExCel, the boxing venue for the 2012 Olympic Games.
Declan Geraghty, David Oliver Joyce, Conrad Cummings, Tommy McCarthy and Con Sheehan are also included in the Irish team.
The Test will be fought on a last-eight format, and Egan, who will be wearing the
Irish light-heavyweight vest in London, is looking forward to getting the feel of the venue.
“Hopefully, we’ll have as many boxers as possible back in London again next year for the real thing. The Test will give us the opportunity to get the feel of the place and to experience competing at the venue,” said Egan.
Irish boxers have one more chance to qualify for London 2012 at a qualification tournament to be staged next year.
Three Irish boxers, Cavan’s John Joe Nevin, Kilkenny’s Darren O’Neill and Michael Conlan from Belfast have qualified
for the 2012 Olympics from last month’s AIBA World Championships in Baku.
Irish squad
56Kg: Declan Geraghty (Crumlin)
60Kg : David Oliver Joyce (St Michael’s Athy)
75Kg : Conrad Cummings (Holy Trinity)
81Kg; Ken Egan (Neilstown)
91Kg: Tommy McCarthy (Oliver Plunkett)
91+Kg : Con Sheehan (Clonmel)
Team manager: Des Donnelly
Coaches: Billy Walsh & Zuar Antia
Physio : Conor McCarthy
Stephen Martin and Martin Burke, Olympic Council of Ireland, will be with the Boxing Team to capture knowledge of the competition venue prior to next years Olympic Games.
They have already established excellent links with the Competition Manager and key technical officials.
On December 3rd, Ciaran Ward , Irish Judo Team Leader and coach to Lisa Kearney, will attend the London Judo Test event at the Excel Centre.
Martin said ” we’ve worked hard with LOCOG and our National Federations to secure and take up opportunities for Irish athletes to attend test events that are part of the mainstream International Calendar of events, such as a Badminton World Championship, or by invitation only such as the boxing event.
This year in Test events, Cluster 1 and 2, we have had athletes take part in test events, for example, badminton,canoe, cycling road, equestrian, modern pentathlon, sailing and triathlon, and we will have more involvement next year in Cluster 3 events”
