Injury won’t stop Katie Taylor making Euros

Katie Taylor dismissed any suggestion her ongoing wrist injury could force her to miss the European Games in June. Ireland’s Olympic and World champion suffered a serious injury to her left wrist when winning her fifth world title in Jeju, South Korea last November.

But she insisted yesterday it would not prevent her participation at the inaugural staging of the European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan.

“I’ve been in serious training for the last few months now. I just have a bit of a wrist injury at the moment I have to manage. I suffered it in the last World Championships and it still hasn’t recovered fully yet, but that’s just something that I have to manage. But other than that, training has been going brilliant

,” said Katie, who was speaking at an event in Ballinasloe in Co Galway.

But she insisted… “yeah, I’ll be OK for the European Games. Other than that, training has been going brilliant and I’m feeling fit and strong, so I can’t complain really”.

Her training is now fully geared towards defending her Olympic title in Rio next year, but she is not even guaranteed a starting place in Rio.

“I have to qualify first. That’s not going to be an easy task. The qualification tournament is in January next year — it’s in Khazakstan during the World Championships, so that’s going to be a huge competition.

“Europe only has four places so I have to get to at least to the semi-finals, depending on how many European boxers compete. And no, it doesn’t mean anything that I’m the reigning Olympic and World Champion.”