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Brendan Irvine assured Olympic qualification still stands

Brendan Irvine’s ticket to Tokyo is still valid.

The ‘Wee Rooster’ appeared to be the first Irish fighter to qualify for the 34th Olympiad with victory in the Copper Box Arena before the London hosted European qualifiers were cancelled early.

The St Paul’s fighter timed his return from injury and form perfectly, produced the kind of display that saw some herald him as a genuine medal hope and outclassed the Hungarian Istvan Szaka.

However, questions with regard to qualification and whether or not those who had secured Olympian status would retain it were raised when the Olympics were postponed.

Toyko 2020 will now be held between July 23 and August 8 next year and qualifying pathways remain unclear.

However, Thomas Bach the president of the IOC has confirmed that those already qualified will remain qualified.

Bach confirmed: “It is clear that those athletes who have qualified for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 remain qualified. This is a consequence of the fact that these Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, in agreement with Japan, will remain the Games of the XXXII Olympiad.”

The Rio Olympian is the only Irish fighter qualified and 12 more amateurs will look to secure qualification.

Jonny Stapleton

Irish-boxing.com contributor for 15 years and editor for the past decade. Have been covering boxing for over 16 years and writing about sports for a living for over 20 years. Former Assistant Sports editor for the Gazette News Paper Group and former Tallaght Voice Sports Editor. Have had work published in publications around the world when working as a freelance journalist. Also co-founder of Junior Sports Media and Leinster Rugby PRO of the Year winner. email: editoririshboxing@gmail.com

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