CONFIRMED – The Irish Boxers to Box Under Nuetral Flag at World Youth Championships

Eleven Irish boxers will travel to the World Youth Championships where they will compete under a neutral flag.

The IABA confirmed an eight-strong Team Ireland to contest the tournament in Budva, from October 20th to November 6th yesterday – and today a select of Irish fighters not selected has been shared.

The somewhat bizarre turn of events emerged after IABA veered from it’s policy of selecting each Irish champion at each weight to represent their country at International tournaments.

In the lead-up to the official squad announcement, there was rumour the IBA would bring underage selection in line with the High-Performance process and there was also a suggestion the IBA would extend an invite to those who won National Under-18 titles but haven’t been picked by the IABA.

Both rumours appear to have been confirmed as true over the last two days with the confirmation of two separate squads.

The Irish fighters not competing but not in Team Ireland will compete as neutrals under the IBA banner.

None of the Irish fighters set to be competing as neutrals are in weight classes where an Irish fighter has been selected, so a defacto Irish versus Irish scenario won’t arise.