Team Ireland will return from the Czech Republic with a little extra baggage – 6 gold and 1 silver, from the Usti nad Labem Grand Prix.

251 boxers from 18 nations were in the competition’s draw earlier this week – however, France and Brazil withdrew their boxers on Thursday. This gave 57kg Michaela Walsh an unusual double-walkover in yesterday’s semi-finals.

Overnight, the Polish team left the tournament – which meant 54kg Jennifer Lehane, 75kg Aoife O’Rourke and 92kg Jack Marley received walkovers in their finals.

50kg Daina Moorehouse was the first Team Ireland boxer in action today, against Ukraine’s Tetiana Kob. It was a hotly contested bout, which ended in a loss for Daina by the narrowest of margains, a 3-2. She comes home with silver.

60kg Kellie Harrington faced Sweden’s Anges Alexiusson, and bags another gold medal following a 3-2 split decision win in the Olympic champion’s favour. 63.5kg Dean Clancy was the last Team Ireland boxer in action today, and met Slovakia’s Villam Tanko in the finals. This bout also came down to a split – 4:1 in the Irish boxer’s favour.

66kg Amy Broadhurst has been withdrawn, through illness. And, having won his opening bout, Kelyn Cassidy was withdrawn because of a facial injury.

Team Ireland Head Coach Zauri Antia says “This was a very strong tournament, with excellent boxers from across Europe, but also the USA, Korea and South America. I am very happy with our preparations at the multi-nations camp in Germany, and with the wonderful performance at Usti from every single member of our Team – congratulations to them, their families, and very importantly, to their clubs and club coaches”

The team return home on Monday, landing at Dublin Airport, from Prague, at 12:45pm.

Team Ireland

51kg Sean Mari, Monkstown D BC

57kg Jude Gallagher, Two Castles BC

63.5kg Dean Clancy, Sean McDermott BC

71kg Dean Walsh, St Ibars/St Joseph’s BC

80kg Kelyn Cassidy, Saviours Crystal BC

92kg Jack Marley, Monkstown D BC

50kg Daina Moorehouse, Enniskerry BC

54kg Jennifer Lehane, DCU BC

57kg Michaela Walsh, Emerald BC

60kg Kellie Harrington, St. Mary’s BC

66kg Amy Broadhurst, St Bronagh’s ABC

75kg Aoife O’Rourke, Olympic BC, Galway

Head Coach: Zauri Antia

Coach: John Conlan

Coach: Eoin Pluck

Coach: Damian Kennedy

R&J: Mal Scott

Physio: Rob Tuomey

Physiologist: Paula Fitzpatrick.

Draws are available here

Team Ireland claimed 6 wins from 6 bouts at today’s Usti nad Labem Grand Prix semi finals.

251 boxers from 18 nations began the tournament; France and Brazil departed in Thursday, which gave rise to an unusual double walkover for Michaela Walsh today – she meets the USA’s Alyssa Mendoza.

First up, and opening today’s procedings, was 50kg Daina Moorehouse. She sought to up-grade her bronze against the USA’s Jennifer Lozano, and came away with the win following a high-octane bout. She’ll contest against Ukraine’s Tetiana Kob.

Next up was 54kg Jennifer Lehane, who met Argentina. Jennifer was similarly decisive, and has booked her place in the finals, where she will meet Poland’s Sandra Drabik. 60kg Kellie Harrington came up against England’s Gemma Richardson, following her Quarter Finals victory over Korea. Kellie was the victor today, following a testy, boisterous bout. She will face Sweden’s Anges Alexiusson on Sunday.

75kg Aoife O’Rourke, having overcome USA yesterday, made short work of Norway’s Sunniva Hofsted, and has the chance to up-grade to gold on Sunday; she will contest against Poland’s Elisbieta Wojcik. 63.5kg Dean Clancy contested strongly against home boxer, Petr Novak, and got the decision – which means he progresses to meet Slovakia’s Villam Tanko in the finals. 92kg Jack Marley got the decision today over Slovakia, and will box for gold against Poland’s Mateusz Bereznecki.

66kg Amy Broadhurst has been withdrawn, through minor illness. And, having won his opening bout, Kelyn Cassidy was withdrawn because of a facial injury.

Finals

The finals will be live-streamed on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBUc_L_Oo_g

Team Ireland

51kg Sean Mari, Monkstown D BC

57kg Jude Gallagher, Two Castles BC

63.5kg Dean Clancy, Sean McDermott BC

71kg Dean Walsh, St Ibars/St Joseph’s BC

80kg Kelyn Cassidy, Saviours Crystal BC

92kg Jack Marley, Monkstown D BC

50kg Daina Moorehouse, Enniskerry BC

54kg Jennifer Lehane, DCU BC

57kg Michaela Walsh, Emerald BC

60kg Kellie Harrington, St. Mary’s BC

66kg Amy Broadhurst, St Bronagh’s ABC

75kg Aoife O’Rourke, Olympic BC, Galway

Head Coach: Zauri Antia

Coach: John Conlan

Coach: Eoin Pluck

Coach: Damian Kennedy

R&J: Mal Scott

Physio: Rob Tuomey

Physiologist: Paula Fitzpatrick.

Affiliation for the 2023-2024 season will begin shortly, through Blocworx. IABA is working with Blocworx to make the system more user-friendly and efficient, utilising feedback provided by clubs in using Blocworx to affiliate in previous seasons, to submit competition entries, and to manage coaching course attendance.

Clubs can now begin their preparation for affiliation for the 2023-2024 season, to ensure submission of their affiliation application is quick and smooth:

Main contact email

This is the email address that IABA uses to send correspondence to your club. Please check that:

1. This is the email address your club wants to use to receive all of its correspondence
2. If the club is using the personal email address of a club member, please ensure this person consents to the inclusion of their email address as the club’s main contact email

In addition, all clubs are asked to review their main contact email address to ensure it is correct and that the relevant email address is in operation as:

1. A notable number of clubs are not receiving IABA correspondence as their inbox is full
2. A notable number of clubs are not receiving IABA correspondence there is a typo in the email address
3. A notable number of clubs are not receiving IABA correspondence as the email address is not in operation
4. A notable number of clubs are not receiving IABA correspondence as the club has chosen to nominate a personal email address as their main contact and this person is not available, for whatever reason, to manage correspondence on the club’s behalf

IABA strongly advises that clubs set up a club email address, so that, in the event that officers change, all club information is stored in the same place, and not spread across several email accounts in the event that officers change within your club.

Boxers

All boxers, whether they are competitive or not, must be included in your Blocworx portal so that they are insured. If you haven’t already done so, please now  review the details of every boxer in your club in your portal, and add any boxers in your club who are not present.

Coaches and R&Js

A significant number of club members have qualified as coaches, Judges and Referees over the last few months. Please make sure that all of your club’s new coaches are included in the coaching section of your affiliation portal, and that any members who have qualified as Judges or Referees are named in the relevant section of your portal, including their qualification.

Officers

If your officers (President/Chairperson, Secretary, Treasurer, Child Protection Officer) have changed, or changed elected roles within your club since your last affiliation, please up-date those records in Blocworx.

• Note: No one person in a club can hold two elected offices – for example, the Secretary cannot also be the President/Chair, Treasurer or Child Protection Officer. However, an officer can hold an elected role and act as acoach or other form of volunteer, for example.

Affiliation timeline:

Your affiliation goes through several steps before it is approved. Once your club has completed the review and up-date of affiliation information, then:

1. Your county board has a two week period from the time your club submits its application to review that application.
2. Your provincial unit has a two week from the time your county board has completed its review to, in turn, review your application.
3. Your application will be reviewed by National Stadium staff

Blocworx

• The portal is here
• Usernames and passwords issued to clubs for this season’s affiliation process have not changed. IABA will re-issue username and log-in details to clubs in advance of the beginning of the affiliation process
• A reminder of the 2022/2023 affiliation tutorial video is here; a refreshed video will issue for the 2023/2024 season.

If you have any questions or require any assistance in preparing for your 2023/2024 affiliation, please contact any member of staff.

IABA is launching a landmark First Aid education programme, Safety in Boxing, later this month, focusing on how to recognise and care for people with life-threatening injuries before the arrival of healthcare practitioners.

This is a 1-day course, led by Dr. Robert Scully in partnership with Jim Howe of getready.ie. It will touch on Health and Safety, Basic First Aid and Athlete Injury covering topics including:

• First Aid in the Workplace
• Patient Assessment
• Incident Procedure
• Basic CPR Understanding
• Common Medical Emergencies (asthma, diabetes, etc)
• Injury Management & Shock
• Care of the Unconscious Patient

This practical learning is being funded for members by IABA, through Sport Ireland, and the course will take place at locations in Ulster, Munster, Connacht, Leinster, Dublin & Antrim. In the first run of courses, IABA hopes to provide this training to a total of 180 people.

Registration is now open for the first course, on May 20^th in the National Stadium. IABA members included in their club’s Blocworx portal can register here

Dates, times and location for courses in Ulster, Munster, Connact, Leinster, Antrim will be shared in due course.

For more information, please contact IABA National Development Manager James Geraghty on james@iaba.ie

Team Ireland will come home from the Czech Republic with 7 medals, following two excellent days of boxing at the Usti nad Labem Grand Prix.

On the opening day, Team Ireland recorded a clean sweep of 6 wins from 6 bouts for Jennifer Lehane, Michaela Walsh, Aoife O’Rourke, Dean Clancy, Dean Walsh and Kelyn Cassidy.

In today’s Quarter Finals, 50kg Daina Moorehouse opened proceedings for Team Ireland, contesting against Poland’s Natalia Roik. The Wicklow boxer came away with a 4-1 win, and at least a bronze medal. She boxes for a place in the final tomorrow, against the USA’s Jennifer Lozano.

54kg Jennifer Lehane recorded her second win of the tournament today, at a podium finish, following her 5-0 win over the USA. She meets Argentine’s Sandra Drabik in bout 2 of the semi finals.

75kg Aoife O’Rourke is also two for two, following her opening bout win over USA and today’s victory over Germany. She will meet Norway’s Sunniva Hofsted on Saturday.

57kg Michaela Walsh also claimed her second win of the competition today, over Finland. France and Brazil have withdrawn their boxers, and Michaeal receives a double walkover in the semi finals – she’ll contest her final on Sunday.

51kg Sean Mari met the Jordan Roach of the USA in his quarter final, and put in a valiant effort. His interest in the tournament ends, following a decision in favour of his opponent. 57kg Jude Gallagher suffered a similar fate against USA world champion, Jahmal Harvey.

63.5kg Dean Clancy contested against Germany – he has secured a bronze medal and a place in tomorrow’s semi final. He meets home boxer, Petr Novak, in bout 18.

71kg Dean Walsh, having recorded a preliminaries win over a Czech boxer, ends his tournament at the QF stage, following a decision in favour of his opponent, Poland.

Heavyweight, Jack Marley, has a bye to the semi finals and makes his tournament debut on Saturday, against Slovakia, in bout 24.

66kg Amy Broadhurst has been withdrawn, through illness. And, having won his opening bout, Kelyn Cassidy was withdrawn because of a facial injury.

Semi Finals programme:

Team Ireland

51kg Sean Mari, Monkstown D BC

57kg Jude Gallagher, Two Castles BC

63.5kg Dean Clancy, Sean McDermott BC

71kg Dean Walsh, St Ibars/St Joseph’s BC

80kg Kelyn Cassidy, Saviours Crystal BC

92kg Jack Marley, Monkstown D BC

50kg Daina Moorehouse, Enniskerry BC

54kg Jennifer Lehane, DCU BC

57kg Michaela Walsh, Emerald BC

60kg Kellie Harrington, St. Mary’s BC

66kg Amy Broadhurst, St Bronagh’s ABC

75kg Aoife O’Rourke, Olympic BC, Galway

Head Coach: Zauri Antia

Coach: John Conlan

Coach: Eoin Pluck

Coach: Damian Kennedy

R&J: Mal Scott

Physio: Rob Tuomey

Physiologist: Paula Fitzpatrick.

Draws are available here

Preliminaries results – Ring A

Preliminaries results – Ring B

Quarter Final results – Ring A

Quarter Final results – Ring B