Dear Presidents and Secretaries-General,

With the safety and well-being of all our members in mind, as well as taking into account the input of the Italian Boxing Federation, I would like to inform you that EUBC Executive Committee has taken a decision to postpone the 2021 EUBC U22 European Boxing Championships, which was
initially scheduled to March to May/June 2021.

Moreover, please also be informed that following the proposal of EUBC Competition Commission, EUBC Executive Committee also approved the participation of boxers born in 1998 to the abovementioned Championships.

In any case, EUBC will monitor COVID-19 situation in Italy and Europe and will inform you about the exact dates of the U22 European Boxing Championships as soon as possible.

We appreciate your understanding and we are looking forward to meeting you in Italy. We hope that all of you stay healthy!

Sincerely Yours,
Franco Falcinelli
EUBC President

Please click here for status of Irish sport on the road to the Tokyo Olympics.

As things stand, Irish captain Brendan Irvine is the only boxer qualified for the Games.

The Antrim flyweight booked his ticket for the 32nd Olympiad at the European qualifiers in London on March 16 last.

The qualifiers were postponed after three days of competition because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The European qualifiers are expected to resume at a host city to be confirmed in April, followed by the World qualifiers in June.

Irish boxing has 12 Olympic places to aim for – 7 male and 5 female – at the qualifiers.

The host city for the European qualifiers is expected to be confirmed by the International Olympic Committee Boxing Task Force on February 17.

Please see above attachments for IABA Youth and Junior home training sessions.

Dear Members,

We would like to ask our, boxers, clubs, coaches, competition officials, officials etc. as potential candidates to submit their application(s) in order to serve at a Committee, by filling-in one of the attached forms. AIBA Committees will meet every year or when required by AIBA Board of Directors/President and develop best practices, recommendations for the approval of the Board of Directors.

Please note that (except for the Women’s Committee), it is AIBA’s intention to achieve gender equality within Committees. Candidatures from women are therefore strongly encouraged.

More information about the role of each Committee and their constitution can be found in the newly adopted AIBA Organisational Regulations (attached) to this letter. Please carefully review such Regulations, which outline the most important procedures and instructions for the application process as well as the criteria for the applicants. Likewise, please be sure that you review the duties under each committee description.

Please submit your application by using the attached forms (one form per candidate and per committee) together with the information and supporting documents listed in each form, to the AIBA Head Office at info@aiba.org The applications will be accepted through February 1st, 2021.  (We understand this is short notice and have requested an extension to the deadline but ask those who can apply within this deadline to please do so).

Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact AIBA office at the same email address.

Regards,

James Geraghty
National Development Manager

The death has occurred of Lieut. Colonel Des Hearns, son of famous Mayo sportsman the late Dick Hearns.

Des followed in the footsteps of his famous father as far as sport is concerned and early in his career won two minor All-Ireland medals with Dublin and subsequently played senior football with Kildare.

He joined the army in 1956 and served in the 3rd Battalion, Curragh Camp for seven years. He was then transferred to Dublin where he commenced reading law in University College, Dublin, graduating with a Bachelor of Civil Law degree in 1970. He was called to the Bar in King’s Inns the following year. He served overseas in the Congo and twice in the Lebanon.

Like his father he also had a deep interest in boxing and was Army heavyweight champion in the early 1960’s. A serious hand injury, however, ended his competitive career.

He turned to refereeing in the 1970s and quickly rose to the top grade gaining European status in 1978 and worldwide status in 1980. He was selected as a referee/judge representing Europe in the World Cup boxing competitions in Seoul, South Korea in 1985 where he was acknowledged as the most professional judge/referee of the Championship. He served on the Central Council of the IABA for seventeen years.

In 2016 he was appointed to the board of directors of the Dick Hearns Centre in Ballina, whose state of the art multi-functional gym is under construction at the Ballina Sports campus.

He is survived by his son Colonel Mark Hearns and his daughters Ruth and Lisa and his three grand-daughters Sasha, Rachel, Alanna and his brothers Frank and Vincent.

May he rest in peace.