World Elite champion Michael Conlan (red) in action

 
The awards keep rolling in for AIBA World Elite champion Michael Conlan.

The AIBA World No. 1 ranked bantam this week scooped the Belfast Telegraph Sports Star of the Year for 2015.

The two-time Irish Olympian, who also won European Elite gold in 2015, was delighted to land the big one.

He said: “It is fantastic to win the Belfast Telegraph Sports Star of the Year award for 2015, especially against such tough competition.I have won other categories at the Awards and to win the big prize means a lot to me.”

Conlan will be aiming to land the biggest price of them all at the Rio Olympics next August.

He added: “This is a great boost to me as I prepare to go and win the gold medal in Rio.

“I’ve had a great year but next is the big one – the Olympic Games. I’m only coming back with gold. I’m one million per cent sure that I will be coming home with a gold medal.”

Meanwhile, the Irish Amateur Boxing Association Annual Awards will be held at the Louis Fitzgerald Hotel in Dublin this Friday night.

Tickets are available from the National Stadium office in Dublin. Ring (01) 453 3371.

Eamer Coughlan and Tommy Hyde with Cork City FC mascot “Corky The Cheetah”

Congratulations to Cork’s young boxers on their recent awards at the interim headquarters of the sport on Leeside in Churchfield.

The winners are: Eamer Coughlan (Riverstown BC), Tommy Hyde (Setanta BC), Steve Cairns (Loughmahon BC), Nathan Keegan (Mayfield BC), Michael Keenan (Glen BC), Linda Desmond (Rylane BC), Melanie O’Connor (Leeside Lough BC), Rachel Desmond (Macroom BC) and Barry Walsh (St Colman’s BC).

Coughlan and Cairns secured silver medals for Ireland in World and European competition last year.

The Jack McAuliffe medals are presented to first-time winner of Irish titles. Cork-born legend McAuliffe claimed a world lightweight title boxing out of New York in 1891 and retired undefeated.

The Champ of Champions Cup, perpetuating the memory of Paddy “The Champ” Martin, was presented by Fianna Fail leader Michael Martin, son of “The Champ”, to Tommy McCarty of the Mayfield BC, who last season won his fifth consecutive All-Ireland crown, at the award ceremony in Churhfield.

Thursday’s Cork Evening Echo will carry a full report.

Michael O’Reilly (blue) in action

Irish boxing will compete in the Elite Strandja and Gee Bee multi-nations for men and women in February and March.

The 67th Strandja tournament begins on February 22nd in Sofia, Bulgaria and the 35th Gee Bee multi-nations commences on March 10th in Helsinki, Finland.

Both Irish squads will be ratified on February 6th.

Irish boxing is building up towards April’s European Olympic qualifiers for men and women in Turkey.

That tournament begins on April 7th in Samsun.

Irish boxing will be targeting nine further Olympic places between now and next June in the remaining qualifiers for the 31st Olympiad.

Joe Ward, Steven Donnelly, Michael Conlan and Paddy Barnes have qualified for Rio 2016.

European Games champion Michael O’Reilly claimed silver at the 2015 Strandja tournament and Brendan Irvine (gold), Adam Nolan (gold), Myles Casey (silver), Connor Coyle (silver), Kurt Walker (bronze) and George Bates (bronze) finished in podium positions at the 2015 Gee Bee multi nations.

World boxing powerhouses Kazakhstan, Ireland and Russia finished in the top three in the medals table in Helsinki in 2015.

I WISH Conference organisers have announced that Katie, the current Irish, European, World and Olympic Champion in the 60kg division, will join delegates at this year’s event in Cork City Hall in February where she will meet with Transition Year students as they explore future study and career opportunities in the fields of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM).

I WISH expects to see over 2000 students attend a series of workshops, exhibits and meetings with female STEM role models over the two-day event. Joining the line-up of speakers, which includes CEO of Vodafone, Anne O’Leary, Katie Taylor will be interviewed on stage by Barrie O’Connell, President of Cork Chamber of Commerce.

Commenting on the announcement, Caroline O’Driscoll, I WISH Ambassador and Partner with KPMG, said: ‘On behalf of I WISH founders Gillian Keating, Ruth Buckley and I, we are delighted to welcome Katie Taylor to this year’s conference. Katie is highly regarded as the outstanding Irish athlete of her generation and is very much an inspiration for young Irish women as she prepares for this year’s Olympic Games in Rio. I WISH was founded to inspire, encourage and motivate young women to consider careers in STEM where there are traditionally lower levels of female participation. Katie Taylor, as an inspirational Irish woman, has excelled in a field which was traditionally dominated by men.’

The International Boxing Association (AIBA) today confirmed the change of dates and host city for April’s European Olympic qualifiers for men in women.

The qualiers, which were originally slated to begin on April 20th in Istanbul, Turkey, will now begin on April 7th in Samsun, Turkey.

The upcoming tournament marks the second successive occasion that Turkey has hosted a crucial European Olympic qualifier.

AIBA said that the change of dates and venues was for the best interest of boxers, particularly female boxers competing in the World Elite Women’s Championships and Olympic qualifiers in Kazakhstan in May and who would have had a very short turn around if the European qualifiers began on April 21st.

The World Series of Boxing versus AIBA Pro Boxing Olympic qualification tournament will also be held in May.

Meantime, thirty places will be up for grabs for men – three berths per weight class – and six for women – two berths per weight class – in Samsun.

Likewise, women competing in the three Olympic weights classes of fly, light and middle, will have to finish in the top two (reach their finals) to book tickets for Rio 2016.

Men have to finish in the top three, with the finalists automatically going through to the 31st Olympiad with one other boxer. Traditionally, the third boxer in a top three scenario was the semi-finalists that lost to the eventual gold medallist.

However, at the World Elite Men’s Championships in Qatar last year, AIBA ordered a box-off between the losing semi-finalists in the weight classes where a top three finish was required to qualify for Rio 2016.

The top three criterion for Samsun has yet to be confirmed.