The final AIBA Open Boxing (AOB) Olympic world qualifier for men will be held from June 14 to June 26 in Baku, Azerbaijan in a slight change of dates from early June it has been confirmed.
The last qualifier following the Baku tournament will a World Series of Boxing versus AIBA Pro Boxing clash at a date and venue to be confirmed in late June or early July.
Meanwhile, 165 boxers, including the six host places taken by Brazil and the four secured by Paddy Barnes, Michael Conlan, Steven Donnelly and Joe Ward, have qualified for Rio 2016 following the completion of the Asia/Oceania qualifiers in Qian’an, China today.
China, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan impressed at the tournament, with each nation securing seven Olympic berths each.
This month’s European qualifiers in Samsun, Turkey completes the Continental phase of the qualifying process for the 31st Olympiad.
A nine-strong Irish male and female squad, currently in Assisi, Italy in training camp, will compete at the Samsun qualifiers which begin on April 9.
Three qualifiers remain after Samsun. The first will be the World Women’s Championships in Kazakhstan in May, followed by the world qualifier in Baku and the WSB versus APB clash.
286 boxers compete at each Olympics. 121 places remain to be won for Rio.
However, eight of those places – five for men and three for women – will be distributed through the Tripartite Commission (invitation places).