Olympic Qualifiers last chance saloon!

walshb

The final chance for our remianing 7 boxers to get to London takes place this weekend in Turkey. Some real tough assignments. Ward needs to make the final,(or get beaten by the gold medalist in the semis), and Nolan and Sheehan must make the final. Hickey and McCarthy need to win gold. Barnes and DOJ need to make the semis.

RTE:

The Ireland Elite boxing squad wound up their final training camp in Kiev and travel to Turkey ahead of the final Olympic qualifier for European male boxers this weekend.

The draw for the AIBA qualifiers will be made on Friday and boxing begins at the Hayri Gur Spor Salonu venue in Trabzon on Saturday at 1pm (Irish time).

Paddy Barnes, David Oliver Joyce, Ross Hickey, Adam Nolan, Joe Ward, Tommy McCarthy and Con Sheehan will represent Ireland at the qualifiers.

Light-flyweight Paddy Barnes and lightweight David Oliver Joyce have the widest windows of opportunity as semi-final finishes in both weight categories will book tickets for London 2012.

But light-welter Ross Hickey and heavyweight Tommy McCarthy have absolutely no room for error as they must both win gold to secure Olympic qualification.

Current European champion Joe Ward, at 18 the youngest member of the Irish squad, will make the Olympics if he reaches the light-heavyweight final.

Officially ranked number three in the world by AIBA, Ward, the 2010 AIBA World Youth champion, can also qualify if he reaches the semi-finals and loses, provided he was beaten by the eventual gold medallist as there are three Olympic places available in the 81Kg class.

Welterweight Adam Nolan and super-heavyweight Con Sheehan will represent Ireland at the 30th Olympiad if they get through to the 69Kg and 91+kg finals.

The eagerly anticipated Turkish tournament represents the last throw of the dice for Europe and Irish head coach Billy Walsh is well aware of the bottom line by the banks of the Black Sea.

Walsh said: "Everyone is raring to go and looking forward to competition and hopefully we will make some inroads into qualification. It's going to be very, very tough. It's an Olympic qualifier at the end of the day and it's all coming down to this week.

"The only prediction I have is that we will be giving it everything. We will be laying everything on the line to try and gain qualification and hopefully we get a little bit of luck along the way."

The Kiev training camp was Ireland's third this year in preparation for the qualifiers and the Irish squad are moving steadily up through the gears according to Walsh.

Walsh added: "I've seen the progression from the first training camp we did in the Curragh. We went to Germany and then here and there has been a steady progression and we're very pleased where we are at the moment.

“Every division is going to be hard at these qualifiers, but our boys are going to make it hard for everyone else.”

London 2012 Olympians Darren O'Neill, John Joe Nevin and Michael Conlan were also training in Kiev and will remain in the Ukraine for a Multi-Nations tournament, along with Tyrone McCullagh and Chris Phelan.

World number one Katie Taylor also took part in the Kiev training camp. Taylor is preparing for next month's AIBA World Championships and only Olympic qualifier for female boxers in China.

cowzerp

will be tough, hopefully a few can get through to the Olympics

walshb

cowzerp wrote: »

will be tough, hopefully a few can get through to the Olympics

Something Irish to look forward to at the games. 5-6 Irish lads would be great, ten, an absolute result!

cowzerp

yeah without the irish there it's just not the same..

duagre

I would think that it would be only a cruel draw to deny Ward and Barnes making it. David Oliver Joyce has a real shot to. It's going to be very tough for the other guys.

Maravilla33

Best of luck to the lads.

walshb

Let's spice the thread up a bit. You can only pick two to qualify. Who?

I am going with Ward and Hickey. Because Ward not only is a threat to medal, but he also makes for good fights. Hickey has the slick and neat style that could do well.

DOJ just isn't up to the elite level. Nolan is another that I cannot see getting at all far in London.

Barnes is always tough to beat, but I think Paddy is not the same level fighter that he was a few years ago. The intensity level is not as it used to be at the higher weight.

jayroyal

lads don't forget these will be seeded so that helps barnes,ward and joyce. i think Nolan will have it tough draw wise so he'll find it very tough, but he has the class.
I think barnes,Ward,Joyce and Nolan

Dodge

Anybody know when the draw is made?

I think we'll get Ward, Barnes and one other through. Most of them in with a shout

walshb

Dodge wrote: »

Anybody know when the draw is made?

I think we'll get Ward, Barnes and one other through. Most of them in with a shout

The draw for the AIBA qualifiers will be made on Friday and boxing begins at the Hayri Gur Spor Salonu venue in Trabzon on Saturday at 1pm (Irish time).

nacho libre

Good luck to all the lads involved. Will the qualifiers be shown on the RTE sports website?

walshb

nacho libre wrote: »

Good luck to all the lads involved. Will the qualifiers be shown on the RTE sports website?

No, Killinaskully reruns are too important!

Bencon

Does anyone know why Michael McDonagh pulled out allowing DO Joyce to take part? Pity really as he is young guy who could only improve from the experience gained here. As someone else said I dont think DO Joyce has the class required at International level.Ward and Barnes are the obvious and most likely to progress here.

barney4001

Bencon wrote: »

Does anyone know why Michael McDonagh pulled out allowing DO Joyce to take part? Pity really as he is young guy who could only improve from the experience gained here. As someone else said I dont think DO Joyce has the class required at International level.Ward and Barnes are the obvious and most likely to progress here.

read somewhere he said he could'nt settle there

walshb

Bencon wrote: »

Does anyone know why Michael McDonagh pulled out allowing DO Joyce to take part? Pity really as he is young guy who could only improve from the experience gained here. As someone else said I dont think DO Joyce has the class required at International level.Ward and Barnes are the obvious and most likely to progress here.

Hi heart and passion just wasn't in it I think. He left a training camp. It must be very hard to stay so hungry all the time. With respect, there is very little difference between him and DOJ. Neither are/were real medal threats.

lex123

does any1 know how many etrants are in each wight division?

walshb

lex123 wrote: »

does any1 know how many etrants are in each wight division?

I'd guess 4 bouts wins you the gold, so maybe 16 in each weight.

5 bouts sees 32 in each weight.

Dodge

walshb wrote: »

I'd guess 4 bouts wins you the gold, so maybe 16 in each weight.

5 bouts sees 32 in each weight.

I doubt its a strict 32/16 either. Fair chance someone like Ward could be seeded and receive a bye for the first round (for example)

Craptacular

It's definitely seeded. I believe the draw is lunch time Friday so we'll know then.

lex123

draw is not til saturday morning internet has it wrong!

barney4001

its hard to understand these qualifiers and how it all works out

Jayob10

updates on this are very hard to come by

any news?

Dodge

Nothing on any of the usual sites. Doesn't seem to have asite of its own. very frustrating

keane=cock

http://www.iaba.ie/start-of-olympic-qualifiers-delayed/

keane=cock

Dodge wrote: »

Nothing on any of the usual sites. Doesn't seem to have asite of its own. very frustrating

http://www.iaba.ie/

Dodge

keane=cock wrote: »

http://www.iaba.ie/

Yeah, thats one of the 'usual sites'. There's no dedicated site to the qualifiers. I'd guess the AIBA site will be best

Thanks for the update on the delay though

makl

joyce vs joe cordina from wales ... could be a while getting more info but draw is done

the_real_lamp

Joe Ward is to box tonight against Kennedy Katende (SWE). He lost to Kenny Egan in final of last Olympic qualifier for Beijing. They box tonight afaik.

makl

http://www.iaba.ie/olympic-qualifiers-2/

Olympic Qualfying Tournament Trabzon, Turkey
April 15th (Evening)
60kg: David Oliver Joyce (Ireland) v Joe Cordina (Wales)
81kg: Joe Ward (Ireland) v Kennedy Katende (Sweden)
(27 boxers have entered at 60kg and 28 at 81kg)
April 16th (Afternoon)
64kg: Ross Hickey (Ireland) v Dimitri Galagot (Moldova)
69kg: Adam Nolan (Ireland) v Thomasz Kot (Poland)
(15 boxers have entered at 64kg and 18 at 69kg)
April 16th (Evening)
91kg: Tommy McCarthy (Ireland) v Copla Alem (Bosnia & Herzegovina)
91+kg: Con Sheehan (Ireland) v Muhammet Erkan Aci (Turkey)
(25 boxers have entered at 91kg and 20 at 91+kg)
April 17th (Evening) 49Kg: Paddy Barnes (Ireland) v Istvan Ungvari (Hungary)
(17 boxers have entered at 49kg)

Dodge

Bit annoying I can't get the full draw but the road to qualfication for the Irish fighters looks like this

Barnes (49kg) needs to win 2 fights
Joyce (60kg) needs to win 3 fights
Hickey (64kg) needs to win 4 fights (the whole tournament)
Nolan (69kg) needs to win 3 fights
Ward (81kg) needs to win 4 fights to be certain
McCarthy (91kg) needs to win 5 fights (the whole tournament)
Sheehan (91kg+) needs to win 4 fights

Dodge

Quick run through their oppenents bios. No major medalists. Barnes' hungarian oppenent has a great recent win over Zou Shiming. That could be a tricky one

Some of the others aren't even their national champion. Would expect most to progress

Ward's oppent fought in the last olympics (losing in the qualifying final to Egan) but hasn't done anything at any Championships