Four nations booked two Olympic tickets apiece before the curtain prematurely came down on last month’s European qualifiers for Tokyo.

Azerbaijan, France, Great Britain and Spain did the double at the Copperbox Arena in London.

The 43-nation tournament was postponed on March 16 after three days of competition because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Gabriel Escobar and Jose Brotons-Quiles did the business for Spain. Escobar was – and still is –  drawn to meet Irish captain Brendan Irvine, who also qualified in London, for at least bronze in the last eight before the tournament was abandoned.

While medals – given that the primary aim of Olympic qualification had been achieved –  could be considered a secondary objective, ranking points for Tokyo are also up for grabs at the qualifiers.

Madrid southpaw Escobar is the current European champion. However, he dropped a unanimous decision to Irvine in the quarter-finals of the 2017 European Elites in Ukraine.

A former World Series of Boxing fighter, the Spanish flyweight also lost to three-time Irish Olympian Paddy Barnes in the semi-finals of the Algirdas Socikas multi-nations in Lithuania in 2016.

Meanwhile, eight flyweights and eight feathers qualified in London, but 61 places will still be on the line when the European qualifiers resume at a date to be confirmed.

European Boxers Qualified for Tokyo 2021

52kg Korvon Soghomonvan (Azerbaijan)
57kg Tayfur Aliyev (Azerbaijan)

52kg Bennama Billal (France)
57kg Kistohurry (France)

52kg Galal Yafai (Team GB)
57kg Peter McGrail (Team GB)

52kg Gabriel Escobar (Spain)
57kg Jose Brotons-Quiles (Spain)

52kg Sakhil Alajhverdovi (Armenia)
57kg Shadalov Hamsat (Germany)
57kg Galos Roland (Hungary)
52kg Brendan Irvine (Ireland)
52kg Petre Cosmin-Girleanu (Romania)
52kg Batuhan Ciftci (Turkey)
57kg Albert Batygrgaziev (Russia)
57kg Mykola Butsenko (Ukraine)

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has approved amendments to the Tokyo 2021 qualification system principles.

Some of the key amendments are below. Click here for the report.

“The new qualification period deadline is 29 June 2021, and IFs can define their own qualification period deadlines should these be prior to this date.

“The revised final sport entries deadline has now been set at 5 July 2021.

The revision of the qualification systems will be finalised as quickly as possible, to give certainty to the athletes and National Olympic Committees (NOCs).”

The IOC announced late last month that the Tokyo 2020 Games were postponed until July/August 2021 because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

As things stand, the boxing qualifiers for the 32nd Olympiad are at less than half-mast with the Africa and Oceania events completed but the European qualifiers postponed.

The competition was shelved after three days of competition on March 16 in London because of the coronavirus outbreak.

Sixteen flyweights, including Irish captain Brendan Irvine, and feathers booked Tokyo tickets
in the English capital shortly before the final bell prematurely tolled on the 43-nation tournament.

The Europeans – with ten Irish boxers still in play – will resume where they finished at a date to be confirmed and the Americas qualifiers will also be completed to bring the curtain down on the Continental route.

There will be one final World qualifier in Paris at a date to be confirmed.

So far, 112 boxers have qualified through Africa, Asia/Oceania and Europe.

286 boxers will battle it out at Tokyo 2021.

Over 900 Irish Senior/Elite titles have been claimed since the advent of WW2 at Dublin’s National Stadium.

The Stadium was officially opened in 1939 on Dublin’s South Circular Road as the first purpose-built boxing venue in the world.

1940 TO 2020 ELITE FINALS

Eight inaugural belts were claimed at the Stadium the following year.

All of Ireland’s Olympic medallists – Katie Taylor, Michael Carruth, John McNally, Fred Tiedt, Wayne McCullough, Ken Egan, John Joe Nevin, Freddie Gilroy, Tony Byrne, John Caldwell, Jim McCourt, Hughie Russell, Paddy Barnes (2), Darren Sutherland and Michael Conlan – have won Irish titles.

Wexford’s Jim O’Sullivan and Dublin’s Ken Egan are the most prolific with ten belts each; Egan securing ten successive gold medals on the bounce at the flagship tournament of Irish boxing.

Dublin’s 2018 World Elite titlist Kellie Harrington and Antrim’s Michaela Walsh are closing in on the ten-time titlists, however.

It appears that Bernard Dunne, the IABA High-Performance Director, and Terry Carlyle were the first two boxers to be involved in the dreaded countback, Dunne getting the nod on accepted scores after a 7-7 tie in the 1999 featherweight final.

The Senior/Elites has been run three times in the same year to facilitate Olympic qualifiers and the inaugural women’s edition began ten years ago.

The first Championships was decided at the Abbey Theatre in 1922 and  various other venues up to 1939, the year Irish boxing officially opened the door to its permanent home.

Three of Japan’s automatic host places for Tokyo 2021 have been confirmed.

The host nation selected the men’s 52kg, 63kg and 75kg weights, with another three host places – two for women and one for males – to be 100% confirmed.

Click here.

The window of opportunity for the final World qualifier will now contract by one place in each of the fly, light-welter and middle classes from 5 to 4.

Likewise, boxers in these limits will have to reach the semi-finals (see below attachment).

ANNEX-1-Tokyo-2020-Qualification-System-Boxing (1) (1)

The flyweight position is of academic interest to Irish captain Brendan Irvine as he qualified at this limit in London last month.

As things stand, 112 boxers have qualified for the 32nd Olympiad through the completed African, Asia/Oceania events and the partially completed European qualifiers which were postponed on March 16 in London because of the Covid-19 outbreak.

The Americas qualifiers in Buenos Aires and final World qualifiers in Paris were also postponed because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

New dates for the resumption of the European event, which still has 61 Tokyo places up for grabs, the Americas and Paris are expected to be announced this month.

286 boxers – 186 males and 100 females – will battle it out at Tokyo 2021.

Ten National Senior/Elite Championship finals were decided at the newly opened National Stadium in the 1940s.

The Championships had been running since the first edition of the tournament, the finals of which were decided at the Abbey Theatre, in 1922, although an All-Ireland competition was resolved at Dalymount Park, the home of the FAI, in 1920.

Following the drama at the Abbey, the Nationals were run at various venues throughout Dublin until the official opening of the National Stadium in 1939.

Light middle Kevin Doyle was the first man to win an Irish Senior/Elite belt on a walkover at the Stadium in 1947 after the semi-finalists in the corresponding bout were disqualified.

Eighty National Senior/Elite belts were claimed in the 1940s.

Irish boxing strode into the 1950s with a spring in its steps with a new home established and the flagship tournament of the sport up and running at the first purpose-built boxing venue in the world.

The sport received an enormous boost in the new decade with five Olympic medals, including a first podium finish at an Olympiad, claimed.

The 1953 finals featured Ireland’s first two Olympic finalists, John McNally (1952) and Fred Tiedt (1956), but both men were beaten by Andrew Reddy and Harry Perry in Dublin.

(1960s results to follow)

Please see below link for results.

NATIONAL SENIOR ELITES NATIONAL STADIUM

(Image: Archive picture of the National Stadium on official opening night in 1939)