Egan starts Irelands Olympic TEST tournament tonight
IABA Press Officer Bernard O’Neill
KENNETH Egan will get Ireland’s campaign at the Olympic Test Event underway with a quarter-final meeting against China in London this evening.
The Dublin southpaw, who has dropped back down to light-heavyweight from heavyweight, will meet Xuan Bao at the ExCel, the venue for boxing at the 2012 Olympic Games.
Ireland are using a six-man squad at the Test. Declan Geraghty and David Oliver Joyce will be involved in quarter-final duels on Friday, versus Thai flyweight Norapoj Tetchkoom and Italian lightweight Donato Consenza.
Belfast’s Conrad Cummings and Tommy McCarthy and Con Sheehan have received byes into Saturday’s semi-finals.
Cummings will meet Brazilian middleweight Esquiva Florentino and McCarthy faces experienced Kazakh heavyweight Vassily Levit.
Tipperary super-heavyweight Sheehan will trade leather with Morocco’s Muhammad Arjaoui for a place in the 91Kg+ final.
All the Irish squad will be boxing in the afternoon/evening sessions which begin at 5pm each day at the ExCel.
Ireland’s Michael Conlan, John Joe Nevin and Darren O’Neill have already qualified for the 2012 Olympics.
There will be one final Olympic qualifier for European male boxers next April.
The May 2012 AIBA World Women’s Championships in China will act as the only Olympic qualifier for female boxers.
92 boxers, 69 Men and 23 Women, will take part in the Olympic Test Event in London.
The countries competing are; Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Azerbaijan, Brazil, China, France, Great Britain, Greece, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Morocco, Russia, USA, Uzbekistan, Sweden and Thailand.
Olympic Test Event ExCel London
Novermber 24th Quarter-finals
81Kg: Ken Egan (Ireland) v Xuan Bao (China)
November 25th Quarter-finals
51Kg: Declan Geraghty (Ireland) v Norapoj Tetchkoom (Thailand)
60Kg: David Oliver Joyce (Ireland) v Donato Consenza (Italy)
November 26th Semi-Finals
75Kg: Conred Cummings (Ireland) v Esquiva Florentino (Brazil)
91Kg: Tommy McCarthy (Ireland) v Vassily Levit (Kazakhstan)
91Kg+: Con Sheehan (Ireland) v Mohammad Arjaoui (Morrocco)
Irish squad
56Kg: Declan Geraghty (Crumlin)
60Kg: David Oliver Joyce (St Michael’s Athy)
75Kg: Conrad Cummings (Holy Trinity)
81Kg; Ken Egan (Neilstown)
91Kg: Tommy McCarthy (Oliver Plunkett)
91+Kg: Con Sheehan (Clonmel)
Team manager: Des Donnelly
Coaches: Billy Walsh & Zuar Antia
Physio: Conor McCarthy
