IABA President – World Youths squad “are a huge part of our team going forward into Tokyo”

IABA President Pat Ryan has paid tribute to the nine-man Irish team who took part at the recent World Youth Championships in St Petersburg.

The squad arrived home from Russia yesterday with two bronze medals from the tournament via middleweight Michael Nevin and light welterweight Gabriel Dossen. Additionally, of the seven boxers who did not medal, four lost to eventual medal winners.

Ryan was delighted with the squad’s showing in Russia’s second city, and feels that the fighters have the talent to make an impact on the upcoming Tokyo Olympic cycle.

“The team itself really performed and excelled out there,” Ryan told Irish-Boxing.com. “To go out and perform in such a manner, and they could have come back with so much more but it was an incredibly tough draw, but apart from all that we’re coming back with two bronze medals which is credit to the boxers themselves, their families, their club coaches, their national coaches, and the IABA itself.”

“Going forward, the team from St Petersburg are a huge part of our team going forward into Tokyo.”

Ryan also noted the depth of talent on the island at the age, wit Dossen and Nevin joining recent European Youth medalists Oliver McCarthy and Terry McEntee. The Portlaoise man explained how “I think it’s important that when you look at under-18s you have to measure it in a different way. This team have been developed over the last four or five years and there were seven changes from the team that boxed at the European Championships, which is an incredible percentage. What it indicates is that our 1-2-3s can go 3-2-1 at any given time.”