Images: Tara Robins Mari

Tokyo bronze medalist, Aidan Walsh, has made a resounding return to the ring, in his opening bout at the 1st Olympic World Qualifier.

Aidan met United Arab Emirates boxer Husain Alkandari. Aidan gave a standing count inside the first minute of the first round – and two more swiftly following. The bout ended in an RSC before the first bell.

Speaking to Olympics.com, after his bout, Aidan said: “I’m just happy to be here and back in boxing. To be honest even before going in the ring today I was wondering, ‘What am I doing here? How did it come to this? It took a lot of work to get back to boxing and it was a real mental struggle, so to be back here is just an absolute privilege. Five months ago I was sitting on the chair at home, drinking a can of Coke and watching TV, and now I’m here trying to qualify for the Olympic Games. It’s amazing. I’m just looking forward to going back now and having a nice cup of tea, chilling out in my room, and seeing my family.”

And, he adds: “The Olympics changed my life, and I will be forever grateful to the Olympic Games because it’s something that I will remember for the rest of my life. The help and support that I got after that was absolutely amazing, and I was surrounded by good people. I’m just happy to be back in boxing and just loving sport again. My main motivation now is just to be here and enjoy sport. Whether I win, lose or draw, I just want to compete to my best.”

Aidan moves to the Round of 32, and will take on Brazil’s Wanderson de Oliveira in the Morning Session on March 7th. de Oliveira is also a Tokyo Olympian, and contested the Games at light welterweight. He existed at the Quarter Final stage to eventual champion, Andy Cruz.

602 boxers from 113 countries have registered to contest the tournament – making it the third largest boxing tournament in history. As a result, the beginning of boxing has been brought forward by a day, to March 3rd. Three sessions of boxing will take place March 4th to 8th to accommodate the volume of competition required.

49 quota places are available. In all weights Ireland is contesting at the tournament, a last four finish will qualify for Paris. The Paris Boxing Taskforce, which is running the competition on behalf of the International Olympic Committee, has advised that boxers will box to quota – which means boxers will cease competing at the Quarter Finals stage where last 4 qualify.

Day Four – March 6th

One Ireland boxer is in action on March 6th, Superheavy, Martin McDonagh. In his opening bout, Martin defeated 5 time US champion, and now Dominican Republic boxer, Fernely Ali Feliz.

On Wednesday, he meets Turkey’s Yusuf Acik in Bout 8 of Ring A’s Afternoon Session, which begins at 2.30pm, Irish Time. Martin is expected in the ring at around 4.15pm

Programme, March 6th

Session Times

The morning session begins at 10am, Irish time

The afternoon session begins at 2.30pm, Irish time

The evening session may begin at either 6pm or 7pm Irish time, see below.

There is no afternoon session on March 4th.

Tournament Schedule

Watch live

Olympics.com will stream all of the bouts, from March 8th, onward. It will not stream boxing from March 3rd to 7th.

Team

1^st Olympic World Qualifier Team:

50kg Daina Moorehouse, Enniskerry BC, Wicklow

54kg Jennifer Lehane, DCU Boxing Club, Dublin

66kg Grainne Walsh, St. Mary’s BC, Tallaght, Dublin

51kg Sean Mari, Monkstown BC, Dublin

57kg Jude Gallagher, Two Castles ABC, Tyrone

71kg Aidan Walsh, Holy Family GG BC, Belfast

80kg Kelyn Cassidy, Saviours Crystal, Waterford

92+kg Martin McDonagh, Crumlin BC, Dublin

Results

All drawsheets are available here

March 3rd results are here

Session 6A results

Session 6B results

Session 7A results

Session 7B results

Session 8A results

Session 8B results

IABA is now publishing the calendar of Safeguarding One workshops for 2024. All adults – coaches, committee members and non-coaching volunteers – in every club who have contact with children are required to have undertaken Safeguarding 1.

Two courses will take place every month, March to November. Acknowledging that club members have a variety of schedules and that no one time will be best for all, a percentage of courses will take place in the evenings, a percentage during weekday lunchtimes and a percentage on Saturdays. Workshops on Safeguarding 2 and Safeguarding 3 will be made available later in 2024.

Book your place here

In keeping with Sport Ireland best practice in Safeguarding training, workshops will be limited to 16 participants. In keeping with norms across the sporting community, the cost for this workshop is E15. Registration for each course will close 2 days before the date, and those who’ve registered will be sent payment information. The participation reservation will expire if payment is not received by 5pm on the scheduled day of the workshop.

Refresher

For all club members who have completed Safeguarding 1 training, but who wish to refresh their knowledge, the online Sport Ireland Safeguarding 1 refresher course is available here

Additional Information: For any additional information, please contact IABA’s National Safeguarding Manager, Stephen Flynn, at stephen@iaba.ie

As part of Women in Sport Week 2024, IABA’s Women in Sport Lead, Sophie Doolan, is launching the second round of its innovative programme for women in boxing.  Ringcraft is a boxing leadership, mentorship and education programme, and is open to any woman member of any boxing club – it was launched in September, and 20 women completed the first round.

The programme is in three phases. Phase One is essential, while Phase Two and Phase Three are optional, and can be tailored to the individual participant’s goals. In these phases, participants can select the learning opportunities that work best for them, for their club, and for their boxers.

Women taking part in Ringcraft do not need to holding a coaching qualification.

Phase One: Essential Learning

Online Brilliant Basics Mentoring Programme – Pre-recorded 5 hours learning

Live Zoom 1 – Intro to the Ringcraft programme

Live Zoom 2 – Group discussion around the Brilliant Basics online learning

Live Zoom 3 – Online Skills Development Session

Addition Education – Online

– Safeguarding athletes from harassment

– Anti-doping

– Communication and working relationships in sport

– Motivation and factors affecting motivation

Phase Two: Optional Learning

Sport Event Management

Supporting female performance in sport and fitness

Recovery techniques

Exercise & mental health

Microsoft Office

Phase Three: Additional Learning

IABA coaching, judging, refereeing certification

Education on the menstrual cycle and nutrition

Education in supporting participants in boxing with additional needs

Places are limited to 20 – intending participants can express their interest here. Wait-listing or short-listing may apply if the programme is over-subscribed.

For more information, please contact IABA Women in Sport Lead, Sophie Doolan – sophie@iaba.ie

Women in Sport Week Events.

IABA’s Women in Sport Lead, Sophie Doolan, has developed a series of events in line with Sport Ireland’s WIS week pillars, including:

March 4th: High Performance – profiling some of the key women in High Performance Boxing

March 5th: Visibility – IABA will launch Phase Two of the Ringcraft programme on Tuesday.

March 6th – IABA will replatfom to clubs the keynote advice development by the Women in Leadership Group in 2022 to assist clubs in supporting women and girls in our sport.

March 7th – Coaching & Officiating. IABA has asked clubs to contribute to the highlighting of women coaches and officials in their club.

March 8th – International Women’s Day

*IABA’s National Secretary will share a keynote message with women of Irish Boxing

*IABA’s brand new Youth Leadership programme will open to expressions of interest from young women

*IABA Ulster will host a Try It! day for primary and secondary school students in Belfast.

Images: Tara Robins Mari

Ireland recorded two wins from three bouts on the second day of action at the 1st Olympic World Qualifier.

Jennifer Lehane )54kg opening proceedings with a very close bout with France’s Romane Moulai. The bout was poised at one split-round a piece going in to the last. There as little between these athletes, and a 3-2 decision went France’s way

80kg Kelyn Cassidy took on Greece’s Michail Tsamalidis in Bout 8 of Ring B’s morning session. Points were deducted for each boxer during the bout, although Kelyn’s superior agility and reflexes saw him get the win.

In the evening session in Ring A, 57kg Jude Gallagher met Algeria’s Hichem Maouche, in Bout 7. Jude performed beautifully throughout the bout, relying on his speed and tactical capabilities to claim a UD win

602 boxers from 113 countries have registered to contest the tournament – making it the third largest boxing tournament in history. As a result, the beginning of boxing has been brought forward by a day, to March 3rd. Three sessions of boxing will take place March 4th to 8th to accommodate the volume of competition required.

49 quota places are available. In all weights Ireland is contesting at the tournament, a last four finish will qualify for Paris. The Paris Boxing Taskforce, which is running the competition on behalf of the International Olympic Committee, has advised that boxers will box to quota – which means boxers will cease competing at the Quarter Finals stage where last 4 qualify.

Day Three – March 5th

Tokyo bronze medalist, Aidan Walsh, is in action on Tuesday. The 71kg boxer meets United Arab Emirates’ Husain Alkandari in Bout 11 of Ring B’s morning session.

Aidan is expected to box at approximately 12.15pm.

Programme

Session Times

The morning session begins at 10am, Irish time

The afternoon session begins at 2.30pm, Irish time

The evening session may begin at either 6pm or 7pm Irish time, see below.

There is no afternoon session on March 4th.

Tournament Schedule

Watch live

Olympics.com will stream all of the bouts, from March 8th, onward. It will not stream boxing from March 3rd to 7th.

Team

1^st Olympic World Qualifier Team:

50kg Daina Moorehouse, Enniskerry BC, Wicklow

54kg Jennifer Lehane, DCU Boxing Club, Dublin

66kg Grainne Walsh, St. Mary’s BC, Tallaght, Dublin

51kg Sean Mari, Monkstown BC, Dublin

57kg Jude Gallagher, Two Castles ABC, Tyrone

71kg Aidan Walsh, Holy Family GG BC, Belfast

80kg Kelyn Cassidy, Saviours Crystal, Waterford

92+kg Martin McDonagh, Crumlin BC, Dublin

Results

All drawsheets are available here

March 3rd results are here

Session 3A results

Session 3B results

There was no Afternoon Session, ordinarily Session 4, on March 4th.

Session 5A results

Session 5B results

IABA’s Women in Sport Lead, Sophie Doolan, is kicking-off Women in Sport Week by celebrating women in High Performance Boxing.

Women’s boxing in Ireland is 23 years old this year – the first women’s competitive bout took place on Hallowe’en night, 2001, between Katie Taylor and Alanna Nihell. It was officiated by Illes Golden Glove BC’s Sadie Duffy.

Michaela Walsh

Belfast woman, Michaela, who contests at 57kg, is a double Olympian, having contested in Tokyo and qualified for Paris 2024. She is also a Commonweath Games gold (2022) and twice silver medalist (2014, 2018). Michaela is a double European Championship bronze medalist, claimed gold and the 2017 European Union Championships and a European Games silver and bronze medalist. She and Kellie Harrington broke the record for winning the most National Elite Championship titles (11) on the same night in November 2023. She is also an Ambassador for IABA’s diversity and inclusion programe, 360 Degrees: There’s Room for Everyone in the Squared Circle.

Kellie Harrington

Kellie is the reigning Olympic lightweight champion, and will seek to defend her title in Paris. She is also a World (2018) and European (2022) champion, as well as having claimed silver and bronze at these tournaments, respectively. She won gold at the 2023 European Games, and silver in the 2019 edition of the tournament. She is the 2023 Strandja champion. In addition to her achievements in the ring, Kellie is an Ambassador for IABA’s anti-doping education and awareness programme, iBoxClean, and an Olympic Federation of Ireland Dare to Believe Ambassador.

Aoife O’Rourke

Aoife, from Castlerea Co. Roscommon, is fresh from claiming gold at the 75th Strandja Memorial Tournament at 74kg. She, like Michaela and Kellie, is a double Olympian, and is gearing-up for Paris 2024. Aoife also holds the distinction of being a double European Championship gold medalist (2019 ad 2022), and also claimed gold at the 2023 European Games.

Tricia Heberle

Olympian, and Team Ireland’s Tokyo Chef de Mission, Tricia, joined the High Performance Unit as Director as in April, as Team Ireland boxers prepare for their first opportunity to qualify for the Paris Olympics, at the European Games in Poland in June – 5 athletes booked their places in Paris in Krakow. Since then, Tricia has directed the HPU in hosting 3 international training camps, with Ukraine, and with Spain, Turkey, and France.

HPU athletes have also trained in a Heat Acclimatisation Camp in Tenerife, and contested the 75th Strandja Memorial Tournament. A team of 8 is in the midst of the 1st Olympic World Qualifer in Busto Arsizio, Italy.

Tricia’s role includes conducting structural and process reviews within the unit, from a boxing administration perspective, and will assist and support HPU coaching staff, led by Zauri Antia, in preparing for Paris 2024.

Lynne McEnery

Lynne, of St. Paul’s BC, Waterford, was appointed to the High Performance Paris Pool Coach programme in 2023. The Paris Pool Coach Programme is the result of Sport Ireland investment and support. Lynne is a former club coach and competitive boxer. She has significant experience in High Performance coaching at international level with Elite, Youth and Schools age groups. Lynne has, this month, become the first woman staff coach in the HPU, following her appointment as a High Performance Development Coach, and coached at the 75th Strandja Memorial Tournament.

Women in Sport Week Events.

IABA’s Women in Sport Lead, Sophie Doolan, has developed a series of events in line with Sport Ireland’s WIS week pillars, including:

March 4th: High Performance – profiling some of the key women in High Performance Boxing

March 5th: Visibility – IABA will launch Phase Two of the Ringcraft programme on Tuesday.

March 6th – IABA will replatfom to clubs the keynote advice development by the Women in Leadership Group in 2022 to assist clubs in supporting women and girls in our sport.

March 7th – Coaching & Officiating. IABA has asked clubs to contribute to the highlighting of women coaches and officials in their club.

March 8th – International Women’s Day

*IABA’s National Secretary will share a keynote message with women of Irish Boxing

*IABA’s brand new Youth Leadership programme will open to expressions of interest from young women

*IABA Ulster will host a Try It! day for primary and secondary school students in Belfast.