Team Ireland gear up for a massive 24 hours

By IABA Press Officer Bernard O’Neill

Team Ireland will have a light training session later today ahead of Wednesday’s and Thursday’s AIBA World Elite finals and Olympic box-offs in Doha, Qatar.

“We will be working on our tactics for tomorrow and Thursday. We will do a run through of all the scenarios and go with our plan,” said head coach Billy Walsh this morning.

Michael O’Reilly, who will be bringing home bronze from Qatar, will be the first in action tomorrow versus Egypt’s Hasan Abdin in a middleweight box-off for a place at Rio 2016.

Conlan is between the ropes versus Uzbekistan’s Murodjon Akhmadaliev in the bantamweight final and Ward is in action Thursday versus Cuba’s Julio La Cruz in the light-heavy decider.

Conlan, Ward and Paddy Barnes have qualified for the 2016 Olympics and O’Reilly can ensure that Ireland will be represented in at least 40% of the male weight classes at Rio 2016 if he beats Abdin.

Conlan has the distinction of qualifying for the same Olympics twice, as he’s already qualified through the World Series of Boxing (WSB). The top three bantams in Doha also qualify.

Barnes also qualified for Rio 2016 through the WSB, while Ward booked his ticket for the 31st Olympiad after beating Uzbekistan’s Ishod Rasulov last night.

Irish boxing would like to thank the Qatar GAA club and Irish fans for their support in Doha. The “Green Army” have been creating a tremendous atmosphere at the Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiya Arena, with Conlan, Ward and O’Reilly and Team Ireland describing the support as amazing.

Please click on names of Ireland’s opponents for profiles and see below attachments for programs.

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October 14th (Final)
56kg Michael Conlan (Ireland) v Murodjon Akhmadaliev (Uzbekistan)

October 14th (Olympic box-off)
75kg Michael O’Reilly (Ireland) v Hasan Abdin (Egypt)
(Winner qualifies for Rio 2016)

October 15th (Final)
81kg Joe Ward (Ireland) v Julio La Cruz (Cuba)