Former world lightweight champion Kellie Harrington is part of the Ireland boxing squad for the European qualifiers for Tokyo 2020 in London next month.
There will be 13 Irish boxers at the Copperbox Arena for the event, which gets underway on the 13th of March.
Harrington is joined in the panel by current European champions Kurt Walker and Aoife O’Rourke.
A total of 77 Olympic places will be up for grabs in the eight weight classes for males and five for females.
There will also be one final World qualifier for the Tokyo Games in Paris in May.
IABA High-Performance Director Bernard Dunne says there was intense competition for places for London:
“We have some really good athletes pushing each other for places, so it has been a challenge to select our squad, but we have picked the best team to compete at the first qualifier in London, he said.
“We would be looking for some good performances from our team. We have two opportunities to qualify, London and Paris, so we will review the squad post-London.
“Preparations have gone well so far, and we head to Italy on Monday for a sparring camp which will then lead us into the qualifier.
“They’ve worked extremely hard to get to this point, so if they perform to the best of their ability in London, then that is all we can ask of them.”
Irish squad
Male
52kg – Flyweight – Brendan Irvine (St Paul’s, Antrim)
57kg – Featherweight – Kurt Walker (Canal, Antrim)
63kg – Light-welterweight – George Bates (St Mary’s, Dublin)
69kg – Welterweight – Aidan Walsh (Monkstown, Antrim)
75kg – Middleweight – Michael Nevin (Portlaoise, Laois)
81kg – Light-heavyweight – Emmett Brennan (Dublin Docklands)
91kg – Heavyweight – Kiril Afanasev (Smithfield, Dublin)
91+kg – Super-heavyweight – Dean Gardiner (Clonmel, Tipperary)
Female
51kg – Flyweight- Ceire Smith (Cavan)
57kg – Featherweight – Michaela Walsh (Monkstown, Antrim)
60kg – Lightweight – Kellie Harrington (St Mary’s, Dublin)
69kg – Welterweight – Christina Desmond (Fr Horgan’s, Cork)
75kg – Middleweight – Aoife O’Rourke (Castlerea, Roscommon)
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
