The Team Ireland squad to contest the Golden Belt-Nicolae Linca Tournament in Targu Mures, Romania has been named.

This Elite level tournament runs from April 3^rd to 9^th;  competition begins on April 4^th . Team Ireland includes 13 boxers: 5 women and 8 men and will depart on Sunday.

This multi-nation tournament is named after Nicolae Linca, who won Olympic gold for Romania at Melbourne 1956, after edging Ireland’s Fred Tiedt on a split decision in the welterweight final.

Women:

W48kg Shannon Sweeney, St. Anne’s, Mayo.

W57kg Jennifer Lehane, DCU, Dublin
W63kg Amy Broadhurst, St. Bronaghs ABC, Rostrevor.

W66kg Gráinne Walsh, Spartacus, Tullamore, Co. Offaly
W70kg Christina Desmond, Dungarvan BC, Waterford/Garda Boxing Club

Men:

48kg Rickey Nesbitt, Holy Family, Drogheda

57kg Adam Hession, Monivea BC, Galway.

63.5kg Brandon McCarthy, St. Michael’s Athy

63.5kg Dean Clancy, Sean McDermott BC, Manorhamilton, Leitrim.

67kg Eugene McKeever, Holy Family, Drogheda

71kg Aidan Walsh, Emerald , Belfast

75kg Gabriel Dossen, Olympic, Galway.

80kg Kelyn Cassidy, Saviours Crystal BC, Waterford.

Coaches: Dmitrij Dmitruk, Eoin Pluck, Igor Khmil

Physio: Robert Tuomey

R&J: Sean Duffy

Tournament Schedule:

April 4^th: Preliminaries

April 5^th: Preliminaries

April 6^th: Women’s Semi Finals

April 7^th: Men’s Semi Finals

April 8^th: Women’s Finals

April 9^th: Men’s Finals.

The tournament, handbook and schedule are here

The IABA’s Boxing Bulletin for March has been issued to all clubs today, and recaps a very busy month for the Irish Boxing Family, including:

*7 medals at the European U22 Championships

*The first home international in two years at the National Stadium

*3 national underage championships

*Scheduling of the Boy/Girl 1,2 & 3 championships.

*Three boxing Olympians were honoured by the Olympic Federation of Ireland.

The bulletin also includes information on Sports Scholarships at Sligo IT, the opening of the Volunteer Ireland nomination portal, an up-date on the Sport Ireland Self Assessed Safety Audit, and a reminder to clubs to up-date new members in the Blocworx affiliation portal.

The Boxing Bulletin has been sent directly to all clubs and is available here

The March #BoxingBulletin is out now, recapping a busy month for the Irish boxing family, including:

🥇🥈🥉European U22 championships

🥊 1st home international in two years at the National Stadium

🇮🇪 3 boxing Olympians honoured by the OFIhttps://t.co/WMPrO3spcj pic.twitter.com/IZjPdec5vl

— IABA (@IABABOXING) March 31, 2022

The deadline for returning the ‘IABA Special Equipment Grant’ form is approaching.

So far, over 177 clubs have successfully completed and submitted applications to receive equipment worth €1,000 through the IABA Special Equipment Grant. A list of the clubs who have submitted these applications is attached.

Every successfully affiliated club in the Republic of Ireland for season 2021/22 can receive this gifted equipment. To receive this equipment, the attached form must be completed in full, signed (original signatures) and returned to info@iaba.ie by 5pm on Thursday, March 31^st.

The equipment includes:

• Ergo Club Jumbo Kit Holdalls x 2 per club
• 8 x Ergo Leather Skipping Ropes
• 4 x Ergo Leather Training Headguards
• 4 x 16oz Ergo Leather Gym Sparring Gloves
• 1 x Set of Marker Cones (x 50)
• 2 x Leather Focus Pads
• Inclusive of delivery  

This allocation is possible through IABA’s successful application to Sport Ireland Targeted Equipment (SITE) 2021 grant. The award was made following an application submitted by the IABA staff team.

The funding is designed to enable clubs to rebuild their equipment stores and to facilitate growing clubs in providing training to new members. 

The equipment will be delivered to an appropriate delivery address provided by your club, by Ergo and may only be used in by club members participating in boxing training. It is envisioned that Ergo will begin distributing equipment on IABA’s behalf in the second quarter of 2022.

IABA Equipment Grant Form

The National Boy/Girl 1, 2 and 3 Championships, 2022, will take place in April.

Venue: National Boxing Stadium, Dublin.

Dates: April 18^th – April 23^rd, April 29th, 30th.

Entries: An entry fee of €10 applies. Boxers will be pre-entered by their Units from the weights they won at in their Unit Championships. Deadline for entries received by Stephen Connolly: s.connolly1961@yahoo.com and sally@iaba.ie is 12pm on Monday 11th April.

Any boxer beaten in their Unit championships but who was an Irish Champion at Boy/Girl 1 & 2 from Drimnagh in December 2021, is eligible for participation as the defending champion.

Draws: Wednesday, 13th April, 2pm in the National Stadium. The draw is being conducted on the basis of pre-entry only.

Weigh-in and Medical: Boxers will weigh only on the day they box.

Weigh-in times: The National Stadium from 8.00am – 9.00am

Boxing Record books to be presented by the boxer at their initial weigh-in if not previously given to the IABA.

Boxing: 11am each day

Duration of rounds: 3 x 1.5 Minutes

Age Requirements: Boxers born in 2008, 2009 and 2010

It is a condition of entry that all competitors and officials have a signed Waiver/Members Acknowledgement Form. Anti-Doping may be carried out at any stage of the championships and all boxers must advise the doctor of any medication they are taking or have taken in the preceding 4 weeks. It is imperative that all boxers adhere to the Anti-Doping Rules

Kildare Sports Partnership Integration Through Sport Programme reached its finale at The National Stadium.

The programme is a partnership between the KSP, Healthy Ireland, Kildare Leader Partnership, & the Kildare Traveller Action Group, and included young people aged 12 to 18 from the wider Athy area.

The programme spanned 3 months, and focused on fun, fitness, health eating and non-contact boxing as a tool of integration. It was led by pro boxer, 5 time national champion and 2 time European bronze medallist, Eric Donovan.

This was a great programme with a group of people. And a brilliant final day trip to finish it out. Well done to everyone involved, looking forward to the next one! 👏🏽😁🥊 https://t.co/lkHCzmP5bb

— Eric Lilywhite Lightning Donovan (@ericdonovanbox) March 28, 2022

The final day of the programme was a visit by participants to the home of Irish Boxing, the National Stadium, where they attended a training session with the U18 squad on Saturday, followed by attending the 2022 Junior 2 National Championship Finals, hosted by IABA President, Dominic O’Rourke.

KSP says “We stopped at The Curragh on the way home at Donnolly’s Hollow to follow in the footsteps of the great Dan Donnelly. There was brilliant collaboration involved for the trip and the programme: many thanks to An Garda Siochana, The Youth Diversion Programme, Healthy Ireland,County Kildare Leader Partnership CLG., St Michaels Boy’s School, The National Stadium, the schools completion officer in Athy and to our Kildare Sports Partnership Team.”