Irish Olympic Boxing Squad Ready For Action In London

The Irish Olympic boxing squad wound up their final training camp in Assisi, Italy today and will fly directly into London tomorrow, July 24th, ahead of the start of the 2012 Olympic Games.

The Irish squad were training and sparring with Italy, Azerbaijan and a team from the Ukraine in Assisi ahead of London 2012. The Ireland panel finished one final training session amongst themselves today following Sunday’s sparring session with host nation Italy.

The team are due to arrive in London early on Tuesday afternoon ahead of the general weigh-in on July 27th. Eric Donovan and Dean Walsh also trained with the Irish Olympic squad in Assisi.

“We had a fantastic training camp in Assisi and we had world class sparring with Italy and Azerbaijan. The facilities were top class and the squad got a lot of work done , said Irish head coach Billy Walsh.

“Everyone is happy and healthy and the team are in a good place. We’re looking forward to getting to London and settling in at the Olympic village and familiarising ourselves with the surroundings and the venue.

“It’s all just a matter of days away now and hopefully we will get the rub of the green in the draw.”

250 male and 36 female boxers will compete at the 30th Olympiad across 13 weight categories, a record for Olympic boxing. Competition begins in the bantamweight and middleweight classes at the Excel venue on Saturday.

The welterweights will be in action on Sunday, followed by the flyweights on Monday and the light-flyweights on Tuesday.
Women’s boxing will be making its historic debut at London 2012 in three weight classes – flyweight, lightweight and middleweight.

The first women’s bout is scheduled for August 5th.

Irish 2012 Olympic squad
49Kg (Light-flyweight) Paddy Barnes (Holy Family BC, Belfast)
52kg (Flyweight) Michael Conlan (St John Bosco BC, Belfast)
56kg (Bantamweight) John Joe Nevin (Cavan BC)
60kg (Lghtweight) Katie Taylor (Bray BC, Wicklow)
69kg (Welterweight) Adam Nolan (Bray BC, Wicklow)
75kg (Middleweight) Darren O’Neill (Paulstown BC, Kilkenny)
Team Manager: Des Donnelly
Coaches: Billy Walsh, Zuar Antia, Pete Taylor
Physio: Conor McCarthy
Strength & Conditioning: John Cleary
Performance Psychologist: Gerry Hussey