IABA hatch plans for redemption in Tokyo

It’s renowned as Ireland’s Olympic medal factory but the Irish Athletic Boxing Association’s (IABA) High Performance Unit is to be stripped down and refitted as the sport looks towards the Tokyo 2020 Games.

A guaranteed success story since the Games in Beijing eight years ago, the wheels came off in spectacular fashion in Brazil last summer when a team considered to be this country’s best ever departed South America without a single medal to its name in the ring.

Painful at the time, it has at least acted as a catalyst for potential change with the launch at the National Stadium last night of ‘Boxing Clever’, the Association’s strategic plan for the years 2017-2020.