Brendan Irvine joined the two-time Irish Olympian club in London this month.

And now he wants to join the Irish Olympic medallist society.

The Belfast flyweight qualified for Tokyo 2021 in London in London earlier this month after posting a unanimous decision over Hungary’s Istvan Szaka to reach the last eight at the Copperbox Arena.

That victory qualified the St Paul’s BC man for the 32nd Olympiad on St Patrick’s Eve.

The qualifiers were postponed later that night because of the Covid -19 pandemic with 16 flyweights and feathers qualified.

“The Olympic Games is the biggest stage in boxing; therefore, to qualify for the event means the world for me. It is the best honour you can get to represent your country in an Olympic Games, and I am proud to put on the Irish vest,” Irvine told Tibor Kincses.

Irvine made his international breakthrough after claiming silver at the 2015 European Games in Baku where Katie Taylor and Michael O’Reilly won double gold and Sean McComb bronze.

A year later he lined out for Ireland at Rio 2016 but was beaten by Uzbekistan’s eventual gold medallist Shakhobiddin Zoirov.

“I had such a tough fight in the European Olympic Boxing Qualifying Event against Hungary’s Istvan Szaka for the quota place, admitted the 24-year-old who captained the Irish team at the London qualifiers.

“The winning tactic for that fight was distance, using it to my advantage and controlling it. My younger Hungarian opponent was very good, tough and very fit. He came to win, which made it a great fight until the final bell.

“It was a strange time for everyone with the circumstances of the Covid-19 virus. The main thing was to try to stay safe and healthy.”

Irvine’s ambition is to secure the 17th Olympic medal for Irish boxing when he gets to Tokyo – and a second medal for Belfast in the Japanese capital after Jim McCourt at Tokyo 1964.

“I am going to try to fulfil my dream of getting an Olympic medal to bring home back to Ireland. I am training at home in this hard period,” he added.

“I have a bag, and a few weights. It is not great or the best one but I will make use of what I have at home.”

The Tokyo 2021 Olympics will be held between July 23 and August 8 next year.

The International Olympic Committee today confirmed the change of dates today following a meeting of their Organising Committee.

The IOC announced last week that the Tokyo Games, which were due to begin in July of this year, were postponed because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“These new dates give the health authorities and all involved in the organisation of the Games the maximum time to deal with the constantly changing landscape and the disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic,” the statement read.

“The new dates, exactly one year after those originally planned for 2020 also have the added benefit that any disruption that the postponement will cause to the international sports calendar can be kept to a minimum, in the interests of the athletes and the international federations.

“Additionally, they will provide sufficient time to finish the qualification process. The same heat mitigation measures as planned for 2020 will be implemented.”

Irish boxing will have at least one athlete between the ropes, as Ireland captain Brendan Irvine punched his ticket for the 32nd Olympiad on St Patrick’s Eve in London.

The London qualifiers were postponed three days into the competition because of the coronavirus with 16 of the 77 Olympic places claimed by male flyweights, including Irvine, and featherweights.

The IOC Task Force for Boxing is expected to announce the new dates and venues for the postponed qualifiers in the coming weeks.

Nine Irish boxers will be in the mix when the European qualifiers recommence.

As things stand, the African and Asia/Oceania qualifiers are completed along with the partially completed European event.

Scheduled for Buenos Aires this month, the Americas qualifiers were postponed because of the coronavirus as were the final world qualifiers in Paris.

Dear Members,

Following, the correspondence issued on 20/03/20 by the Board of Directors of the IABA. Please be advised that the cancellation of all boxing activities for affiliated bodies within the IABA due to Coronavirus Covid-19, has now been extended to at least the 19^th April 2020.

This decision was taken in line with Government and HSE advice and has been implemented to help safeguard the wellbeing of our members, our communities and our Country.

For clarity, this includes all organised training (indoor or outdoor) and any other boxing related events.

The previous Board directive stating there will be no championships or competition allowed to take place at club, county, provincial or national level until at least June 2020 remains in place. However, this timeline may too be extended.

The Board of the IABA will continue to monitor the situation and follow the guidance issued by the HSE and other applicable governmental departments. We encourage all members to do likewise (please see links below):

https://www2.hse.ie/conditions/coronavirus/coronavirus.html

https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus

Members who have specific concerns relating to the coronavirus should contact the HSE helpline to seek further advice/guidance Tel: 1850 24 1850 or in Northern Ireland contact Tel: 111.

The Board would like to thank all of our members for the concern they have shown for their communities in abiding by these directives.

Yours Sincerely,

Board of Directors, IABA.