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HUGE changes – Olympic Qualifying Latest

The IOC Boxing Task Force for Europe have confirmed there will be huge changes in the qualifying process for the delayed Tokyo Olympics.

In what was a change from the norm in itself, the pathway to Tokyo 2020 involved navigating one of just two qualifiers – with no WSB or APB routes as in recent Games.

Irish fighters could book their place at the next Olympics with success in the European Olympic Qualifiers, which were postponed mid-tournament last March.

If unsuccessful via the European route, a World Qualifiers offered a second chance – or indeed an opportunity for each country to send a different fighter at a specific weight.

It has now emerged there will not be time to hold a World Qualifying tournament and World rankings will come into play for some.

The European Qualifier will resume where it left off in June and the remaining places will then be handed out by each continental via world ranking.

A statement released by the IABA today confirmed:

“The IOC Boxing Task Force for Europe met on the 15.02.21 and it was announced that subject to IOC executive committee ratification, the qualifying tournament due to take place for European boxers will not be held in April. Instead, it will take place in June and the scheduled World qualifying event will not be held.

“The quota places that were to be on offer at the World qualifier will now be allotted to the continental confederations to allocate. It is envisaged these final places will be awarded to the highest-ranking boxer non-qualified at each weight.

“The ranking points published in February 2020 along with ranking points achieved at the qualifying event itself will be used to determine the highest-ranking boxer at each weight.”

The news has massive ramifications for Irish amateurs and the Irish team in general.

While everything is still somewhat unclear, Irish-Boxing.com hope to bring a complete breakdown of the new scenario and all the new permutations tomorrow – with both potential good and bad news for Irish boxers.

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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