Team Ireland Heads To Russia For Schoolboy Championships
Ireland’s young boxers fly out to Russia this afternoon ahead of the opening bell for the 2012 European Schoolboy Championships.
The European Boxing Federation and Boxing Federation of Russia hosted Championships, the 10th in the edition, is scheduled to begin at the Kubanskaya Niva venue in Anapa next Tuesday.
The Irish squad completed a ten-day training camp at the National Stadium in Dublin ahead of the 10th anniversary of the Continental deciders.
That camp went according to plan, and Irish team manager Paddy Gallagher is confident that the 18-strong panel will do their country proud at the Black Sea holiday resort.
“The squad shaped up very well in the training camp and they go a lot of work done over the ten days at the National Stadium and they are all looking forward to the tournament,†he said. Gallagher.
“If they perform to the best of their abilities I would be confident that they will do well in Anapa.
“Some of our lads have competed at this level before and that experience will obviously stand to them and to the rest of the squad in what should be a very competitive tournament.â€
The draw for the 2012 Championships will take place at 11am (local time) – Anapa is three hour ahead of Ireland – next Tuesday.
Boxing will commence after the draw followed by the opening ceremony followed by a further session of preliminary round bouts next Tuesday evening.
Ireland’s boxers have won 40 medals at European Schoolboy level since the inaugural tournament in Rome in 2003.