National Elite Schoolboys Squad Training for 2016 commences this Sunday, January 17th, in the High Performance Unit at the National Stadium for all last seasons Boy 1 and Boy 2 Irish Champions plus Cadet Champions at those ages.

Two sessions of boxing take place: 11am -12:30pm & 2pm-3:30pm. Boxers get dinner between sessions.

Full training gear (16oz spar gloves, headguard, bag gloves, groinguard, rope, wraps, gumshield and towel) plus water for two sessions is essential.

This training will continue every second Sunday.

All notifications regarding training will be on the IABA website at www.iaba.ie

Please inform Schoolboys Coordinator Paddy Gallagher if your boxer is unable to make squad training on 087-6286269 or paddythegaa59@gmail.com

Please note that the National Intermediate Championships is now titled the National Senior Championships and will take place in November/December this year.

The next National Elite Championships will be held in February 2017.

See below attachment for fixtures.

Fixture List

Russia secured a hat-trick of gold medals in the three Olympic weight classes for women at The World Cup of Petroleum Countries in Russia recently.

Flyweight Elena Savelava, the current World and European Games champion, lightweight Daria Abramova and middleweight Lyubov Pashina finished on top of their respective podiums.

Former World champion Sofya Ochigava returned for the tournament but had to withdraw injured in the final versus Abramova. The Russian southpaw, who was beaten by Katie Taylor in the 2011 and 2012 European, World and Olympic finals, has had knee injury problems in the past.

Tajikistan’s Olympic bronze medallist Mavzuna Chorieva was eliminated by Ochigava in the prelims on a unanimous decision in Siberia. Chorieva was beaten by Taylor in the 2012 Olympic semi-final.

Women’s boxing is building up toward April’s Olympic qualifiers (for Europeans) in Istanbul, Turkey and the World Elite Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan in May.

The 9th Women’s World Elite Championships will act as a qualifier for Rio 2016.

Katie Taylor (red)

Congratulations to the International Boxing Association (AIBA). Founded in 1946 as a replacement for the then world governing body of the amateur boxing, The Federation Internationale de Boxe Amateur (FIBA), AIBA celebrates its 70th anniversary this year.

The Rio 2016 Olympic Games will be the flagship tournament on the occasion of AIBA’s 70th birthday and the  qualifiers through AIBA Open Boxing (AOB), the World Series of Boxing (WSB) and AIBA Pro Boxing (APB) will be ummissable, according to AIBA President CK Wu.

He said: “Olympic qualification opportunities are sure to bring out the very best in our boxers in the first half of this year. This is the world’s biggest sporting stage and the competition for places at Rio 2016 will make for an unmissable series of major tournaments, as well as the Women’s World Championships.”

2016 will also see the conclusion of 9th edition of the AIBA World Women’s Elite Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan in May. Katie Taylor will be aiming for her sixth successive gold medal since New Delhi 2006 in Central Asia.

Taylor has never actually won a World title in Europe, arguably the strongest continent in the sport. Of her five gold medals at this level so far, four have been won in Asia and one in Barbados.

Astana 2016 is also doubling up as a qualifier for Rio 2016.

The National domestic calendar will open with the National Boys 1,2 & 3 Championships in March.

The tournament begins at the National Stadium in Dublin on March 29th. The weigh-ins will be held at four designated provincial centres on March 25th.

Please see below attachment for 2016 fixtures and early 2017 fixtures.

The National Intermediate Championships will is now titled the National Senior Championships.

The next National Elite Championships will be held in February 2017 at the National Stadium.

Fixture List