The Irish Boxing squad wound up their final training camp in Kiev, Ukraine today and will travel to Trabzon, Turkey on Wednesday (April 11th) morning ahead of the opening bell for the final Olympic qualifier for European male boxers this weekend.
The draw for the AIBA qualifiers will be made Friday. Boxing begins at the Hayri Gur Spor Salonu venue in Trabzon on Saturday at 1pm (Irish time).
Paddy Barnes, David Oliver Joyce, Ross Hickey, Adam Nolan, Joe Ward, Tommy McCarthy and Con Sheehan will represent Ireland at the qualifiers.
Light-flyweight Paddy Barnes and lightweight David Oliver Joyce have the widest windows of opportunity as semi-final finishes in both weight categories will book tickets for London 2012.
But light-welter Ross Hickey and heavyweight Tommy McCarthy have absolutely no room for error as they must both win gold to secure Olympic qualification.
Officially ranked number three in the world by AIBA, Ward, the 2010 AIBA World Youth champion, can also qualify if he reaches the semi-finals and loses, provided he was beaten by the eventual gold medalist as there are three Olympic places available in the 81Kg class.
Welterweight Adam Nolan and super-heavyweight Con Sheehan will represent Ireland at the 30th Olympiad if they get through to the 69Kg and 91+kg finals.
The eagerly anticipated Turkish tournament represents the last throw of the dice for Europe and Irish head coach Billy Walsh is well aware of the bottom line by the banks of the Black Sea.
“Everyone is raring to go and looking forward to competition and hopefully we will make some inroads into qualification. It’s going to be very, very tough. It’s an Olympic qualifier at the end of the day and it’s all coming down to this week, ” he said.
“The only prediction I have is that we will be giving it everything. We will be laying everything on the line to try and gain qualification and hopefully we get a little bit of luck along the way.”
The Kiev training camp was Ireland’s third this year in preparation for the qualifiers and the Irish squad are moving steadily up through the gears according to Walsh.
“I’ve seen the progression from the first training camp we did in the Curragh. We went to Germany and then here and there has been a steady progression and we’re very pleased where we are at the moment. Every division is going to be hard at these qualifiers, but our boys are going to make it hard for everyone else, ” he added.
London 2012 Olympians Darren O’Neill, John Joe Nevin and Michael Conlan were also training in Kiev and will remain in the Ukraine for a Multi-Nations tournament, along with Tyrone McCullagh and Chris Phelan.
World number one Katie Taylor also took part in the Kiev training camp. Taylor is preparing for next month’s AIBA World Championships and only Olympic qualifier for female boxers in China.
Irish squad for AIBA European Olympic Qualifying Event Trabzon 2012 (April 13th/22nd)
49kg: Paddy Barnes (Holy Family GG)
60kg: David Oliver Joyce (St Michael’s Athy)
64kg: Ross Hickey (Grangecon)
69kg: Adam Nolan (Bray)
81kg; Joe Ward (Moate)
91kg: Tommy McCarthy (Oliver Plunkett)
91+kg: Con Sheehan (Clonmel)
Olympic qualifying guidelines for final Olympic qualifiers for Europe (male boxers) Trabzon, Turkey April 13/22
Weight Category No. of Olympic places for Europe
49Kg:Light-Flyweight-Paddy Barnes (Holy Family GG) (4) Semi-finalists will qualify
52Kg: Flyweight-Michael Conlan (St John Bosco) has qualified in this weight category) 3
56Kg:Bantamweight -John Joe Nevin (Cavan) has qualified in this weight category) 4
60Kg:Lightweight-David Oliver Joyce (St Michael’s Athy) (4) Semi-finalists will qualify
64Kg:Light-welter-Ross Hickey (Grangecon) (1) Gold medalist will qualify
69Kg:Welterweight-Adam Nolan (Bray) (2) Finalists will qualify
75Kg: Middleweight-Darren O’Neill (Paulstown, Kilkenny) has qualified in this weight category) 2
81Kg:Light-heavy-Joe Ward (Moate) (3) Finalist will qualify plus the semi-finalist that lost to the eventual gold medalist
91Kg:Heavyweight-Tommy McCarthy(Oliver Plunkett) (1) Gold medalist will qualify
91+Kg:Super-heavy-Con Sheehan (Clonmel) (2) Finalists will qualify
TOTAL 26 for Europe
Article by Bernard O’Neill IABA Public Relations Officer
