One hundred and fifteen boxers, including Irish captain Brendan Irvine, have qualified for Tokyo 2021 directly through the Continental qualifiers in Africa, Asia/Oceania and the partially completed European route.

Click here for list.

286 boxers – 186 males and 100 females –  will battle it out at the 32nd Olympiad which has been postponed from July/August this year until July/August 2021 because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

39.1% are now “over the line”, while the remaining places will be booked through the rearranged Americas, European and World qualifiers at dates to be confirmed.

Nine Irish boxers remain in the qualification mix at the Europeans which were postponed after three days of competition this month in London with 16 of the 77 Tokyo 2021 places secured in the male fly and feather limits.

Rio 2016 Olympian Irvine, the Irish skipper in London, reserved a place at his second successive Olympiad after beating Hungarian flyweight Estovan Szaka a few hours before the curtain came down on the competition because of the coronavirus on St Patrick’s Eve.

Irvine joins an illustrious cast of two-time Irish Olympian which includes Olympic champions Michael Carruth and Katie Taylor and Olympic medallists Wayne McCullough, John Joe Nevin and Michael Conlan.

Phil Sutcliffe and Kieran Joyce and many other legends of the sport represented Ireland at two Olympiads.

Ireland’s first two-time Olympians were Myles McDonagh and Maurice “Mossy” Doyle (both Army BC and Garda BC) at Paris 1924 and Amsterdam 1928.

Two-time Olympic bronze medallist Paddy Barnes is Ireland’s only three-time boxing Olympian, while Taylor, so far, is Ireland’s only female boxing Olympian and champion.

The European qualifiers will resume next February and March at a host city to be confirmed, followed by the World qualifiers in May/June 2021.

 

Please see below attachments and posters in relation to the IABA’s Return to Training Protocols.

Click here for IABA Board of Director’s statement.

 

IABA Return to Training – Protect yourself at all times-converted

Club Covid-19 Officer-converted

Covid 19 Club Risk Assessment Template

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Members,

The Board of Directors IABA, recently met by Teleconference to agree a final draft of the Return to training protocols for boxing clubs throughout the Country. The Board reflected on all of the recommendations received by the Units, many of which have been incorporated into the agreed protocols which have since went in front of the Return to Sport Medical Expert Group for their on-going guidance. The protocols will be emailed to the clubs and Units today and then posted on the IABA website to assist in the preparation of our return to training.

The Board also discussed the timeline mapped out in the Revised Roadmap for Reopening Ireland. It was decided that in the interest of solidarity our clubs would not resume until the 1st of August 2020 in order to hopefully facilitate a coordinated resumption to training for all our clubs throughout the length and breadth of the Country and in both jurisdictions. The intervening time will also allow for our clubs to put in place all safety measures and ensure a safe return to sport for all our members.

In any event, all National Championships or International travel for clubs will not be sanctioned by the IABA until at least the start of October 2020 to ensure that all our clubs have an adequate time to prepare for future All- Ireland competition. This date may change subject to relevant health service guidelines.

In an effort to facilitate our Elite Team in their preparation for next year’s Olympic Games, our High-Performance boxers will be given special dispensation and allowed to resume training in the Abbotstown facility from the 20th of July 2020. The team will be closely monitored and checked by a team of medical professionals and subject to strict protocols in their return to preparations for qualification events scheduled for Feb/March 2021.

The IABA Board broadly welcomed the Governments €70m Emergency Sports fund for National Governing Bodies of Sport, Local Sports Partnerships and sports clubs in response to the Covid-19 crisis. We will provide further information on accessing this funding to our clubs as it becomes available as this will hopefully assist our clubs in getting through this very difficult period.

The Board acknowledges the worry and fear that many of our clubs are experiencing at this time and the Chairman, President & CEO have agreed as such we will not be running the process of affiliation for the 2020/21 season until November 2020. This is being done to give our members adequate time to get back to their clubs and some sense of normality before being asked to enter the affiliation process. All clubs that were affiliated to the IABA in 2019/20 will remain affiliated members and Insured until the next round of affiliations.

The fee for affiliation 2020/21 will be just under half of last year’s figure (final figures to be provided nearer to the time) in order to assist clubs to get back to training and competition with as little further financial burden as possible.

This reduction will only be made possible through the good work of staff and volunteer members and by utilising current spend and reserve funds that have been accumulated by the organisation through prudent financial management over several years.

The Board of the IABA will continue to monitor the situation and follow the guidance issued by the health services and other applicable governmental departments. We encourage all members to do likewise (please see links below):

https://www2.hse.ie/conditions/coronavirus/coronavirus.html

https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus

Members who have specific concerns relating to the coronavirus should contact the HSE helpline to seek further advice/guidance Tel: 1850 24 1850 or in Northern Ireland contact Tel: 111.
The Board would like to thank all of our members for the concern they have shown for their communities in abiding by these directives.

Yours Sincerely,

Chairman Ciaran Kirwan, President Dominic O’Rourke, Chief Executive Fergal Carruth

For and on behalf of the Board of Directors, IABA.