TRAINING CAMP WITH LITHUANIA

national stadium v

Team Ireland begin their training camp with Lithuania at the National Stadium in Dublin today.

Current European Elite welter champion Eimantas Stanionis and current European Elite bronze medallist Evaldas Petrauskas are included in a strong Lithuanian panel.

The camp runs until March 24 at the home of Irish boxing.

Rio r 2016

Both nations are preparing for next month’s European Olympic qualifiers in Samsun, Turkey.

Thirty Rio 2016 places will be up for grabs for men and six for women at the Samsun qualifiers. Boxing begins on April 9.

The top three males in each of the ten weight classes in Samsun qualify for Rio 2016. The finalists automatically qualify and the losing semi-finalists box-off for the third Olympic place.

The top two (finalists) females in the three Olympic weights – flyweight, lightweight and middleweight – qualify.

However, the losing female semi-finalists will also box-off in Samsun to determine an accurate rankings in the event of a reallocation of quota places after May’s World Women’s  Championships in Kazakhstan, which is also an Olympic qualifier.

In the event of a female athlete earning an Olympic quota places in both Samsun and at the World Championships, the World Championships place will prevail and quota place will go to the next best placed boxer in Samsun.

Meantime, following the training camp with Lithuania, Team Ireland leave for a final training camp in Assisi, Italy on March 28.

Rio 2016 Olympians Paddy Barnes, Michael Conlan, Steven Donnelly and Joe Ward are included on the Irish team for the Assisi training camp.

The Irish squad for Samsun will be ratified in due course. Boxing begins on April 9 in Samsun.

Ireland and Lithuania squads training camp National Stadium Dublin

Ireland

1. Stephen McKenna

2. Paddy Barnes

3. Brendan Irvine

4. TJ Waite

5. Michael Conlan

6. Kurt Walker

7. David Oliver Joyce

8. Sean McComb

9. Tiernan Bradley

10. Dean Walsh

11. Wayne Kelly

12. Steven Donnelly

13. Adam Nolan

14. Martin Stokes

15. Michael O’Reilly

16. Conor Wallace

17. Joe Ward

18. JP Delaney

19. Darren O’Neill

20. Kirill Afanasev

21. Dean Gardiner

22. Thomas Carty

Lithuania

1. Evaldas Petrauskas,

2. Eimantas Stanionis,

3. Mantas Valavicius

4. Edgaras Skurdelis,

5. Todas Tamasauskas,

6. Tomas Piorun

7. Vladimiras Bajevas (coach)

8. Vidas Bruzas (coach)

9. Arunas Cialka (physio)

10. Valeriu Dadeo