Gloves off as major tournament hits Cork
Both John Lynch, chairman of the CIE Group of Companies and a trustee of the IABA, and the president of the IABA, Dominic O’Rourke, said the upcoming multi-nations tournament the first ever to be held in Ireland could put this country in line for an Olympic qualifying tournament in 2008.
“That would certainly put Ireland in the limelight and it would also give Irish boxers an edge as boxers from the home nation always seem to do well in those tournaments,” insisted Dan O’Connell, chairman of the local organising committee.
“It is one of the reasons we chose Cork for this tournament,” said Dominic O’Rourke. “There is a great boxing tradition in Cork. The city has produced great champions and we have some of them here today Kieran Joyce and Michael Roche but as well as that there has always been great support for tournaments in and around the city.
“If we can harness that support this time around I feel the visiting dignataries will be impressed. We are happy to have Dan Lane and the Rylane club involved in the organisation of the event. They did an excellent job with the Four Nations Championships in Killarney last year and this is the next step forward.”
Yesterday’s launch was attended by several members of the Irish team currently in training for next year’s Olympic Games in Athens.
John Lynch said the tournament would regenerate boxing both at local and Munster levels but it was at international level that they wanted to make the big impact.
“Boxing has accounted for more Olympic medals than any other Irish sport,” he said. “It has been selected as one of the five high performance sports for Government aid. This tournament will be important for the boxers as part of their preparations for next year’s Olympics and it will also be important for the IABA in their plans to bid for an Olympic qualifying tournament in four years’ time.”
He said some of the most powerful boxing nations in the world were included in the line-up. Sweden, Nigeria, France, Canada, Azerbaijan, Uganda, Ukraine, Cyprus and Ireland were already confirmed.
And the Irish team will include the young Limerick man, Andy Lee (St. Francis), among the hottest properties on the international scene.
Young Conor Ahern from Dublin gets the light flyweight berth with Thomas Lee from Galway at flyweight and the promising Kildare lad, Eric Donovan (St. Michael’s) at bantamweight.
And there is another exciting prospect at 57 kg, Eamonn Tuohy from Moate. A bronze medallist at the European cadette championships last year after he won the national junior and intermediate titles, the 17 year old Offaly man put up a brave performance against the defending champion, Stephen Ormond, in the finals of the senior championships.
James Moore, bronze medallist at the World Championships in Belfast in 2000, will be fancied to win the welterweight division while Andrew Murray from Cavan, at lightweight, Paul McCloskey, Kenneth Egan and the teak tough Sligo heavyweight, Alan Reynolds, complete the Irish line-up.
“It is all pretty exciting,” said Dan O’Connell, said. “We are honoured to be able to stage a tournament of this magnitude here in Cork. But there is a rich tradition and a great history here and I am confident that the boxing public and corporate Cork will respond.”
Special invitations will be sent out to schools and clubs for all the preliminary sessions there will be two sessions each day while the finals will be a corporate affair with most of the tables already sold.
“We would see this as part of the big boxing revival not just in Cork but in Munster where a lot has been happening in recent times,” said Dominic O’Rourke.
“We have the perfect setting for the tournament at the Rochestown Park Hotel, where John O’Donovan has excellent credentials, coming from a strong boxing background.”
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