[ad_1]
Zuar Antia has been in good shape all weekend. The affable Georgian has a year that has further cemented his reputation as the world’s best amateur coach of boxers.
Under his astute guidance, Ireland made history by topping the medal table at the Women’s European Championships, and Amy Broadhurst and Lisa O’Rourke became world champions (as was Cliona Darcy at youth level).
Ireland’s players have won a total of 51 major medals at international competition in 2022, but Antia isn’t sitting around looking at all the shiny metal. “New year, new challenges,” he says. And this year, when the boxer takes his first steps towards Paris, he will be presented with a special challenge, as his national elite championship will take place on Thursday at the National Stadium.
The entry list will be announced tomorrow, but the Irish Athletic Boxing Association (IABA) had already issued a notice stating that anyone who could compete in this year’s championship should enter. not. The coming weeks should ensure that Irish boxing elites face off.
“We had a very good year last year, but every year brings different challenges, new challenges,” said the Ireland head coach.
“That’s why every year we have to get better, plan better, have a clearer purpose every year. This year’s challenge is to qualify for the Olympics, so purpose and vision are about that. I have to.”
There are 13 divisions in Paris, 7 for men and 6 for women, and Antia’s goal is to have a boxer in each division. ‘Why not? ‘ he asks.
Irish players have three opportunities to qualify: the European Games in Poland this June and two global qualifying tournaments early next year. But first they have to prove themselves in the Elite Championship. There is a problem. Broadhurst, the fittest boxer in the high-performance program, lifts his weight by two to make him 66 kg to avoid a collision with Tokyo gold medalist Kelly Harrington. According to Antia, it’s a challenge from the talented Dundalk, but she can meet.
Unusually for Irish boxing, the positive sentiment has not been confined to the ring in recent months. This past year, the IABA was once again producing the wrong kind of headlines. Bernard Dunn has stepped down from his acrimonious high-performance role. CEO Fergal Carruth and chairman Ciarán Kirwan resigned last August. Former sports minister Jack Chambers has withheld 15% of the funding and threatened to withdraw it entirely unless specific governance reform measures are introduced.
By November all core funding had been restored as Sport Ireland was satisfied with these reforms. New faces appeared on the Board of Directors, including Darren O’Neill and Fiona Hennigan of the London Olympics.
Interim CEO John Nangle and interim president Tom Geraghty are leading an effort to speak to all clubs in the country in the coming months to seek input on how the IABA should evolve. increase.
“It is important that all coaches, clubs and senior boxers have a voice and that as many people as possible participate in this process. This will shape the future of boxing in Ireland and how best practice governance is achieved. ‘He told members in his Christmas message, pointing out that a recruitment agency was being hired to procure a replacement for Dan.
So, after a historic 2022 has taken place on the ring and longstanding issues have finally been resolved outside the ring, it should spur the Irish boxing steps as it embarks on the road to Paris next weekend. However, a dark cloud is looming over the sport as the bitter feud between the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Boxing Association (IBA) continues to deepen.
The IOC has already removed one of its core sports from its program for the Los Angeles 2028 Games, after IBA president Omar Kremlev renewed the organization’s sponsorship deal with Russian energy giant Gazprom, with Paris 2024 scheduled before Christmas. threatened to quit boxing. The IOC is expected to make a final decision on Paris before the qualification process begins in the summer.
Kremlev, who was elected in 2020, has been accused of centralizing the IBA’s powers in his home country of Russia, and the IOC has expressed concern over a lack of transparency. Suggesting that the time has come, Olympic leaders have stated that “there is no real interest in boxing or the sport of the boxer, only in power in and of itself”. , it’s safe to assume that opinion is not widely shared.
The Common Cause Alliance, made up of 35 federations, including the IABA, and driven by USA Boxing, was formed to explore the prospect of forming a new organization, but it’s a simple matter, according to people familiar with the matter. not. Memorandum together.
“I often hear that when FAI has a problem, why don’t they dismantle it and set up something new? says the house. “Lots of legal proceedings, months and years of paperwork. Think about how messy a Brexit divorce was. The Common Cause Alliance’s solution was between the IOC and his IBA.” It could be finding common ground.
The IOC doesn’t want to give up on boxing, one of its core sports since it was first included in 1904. That’s why the IOC has set up a task force to run a boxing tournament in Tokyo after the Rio judging controversy. Will do so again in Paris. As a working-class sport, boxing offers economic, ethnic and geographical diversity that few other Olympic sports can offer. Therefore, there was some hesitation on the part of the IOC.
“The situation is serious,” says a source. “The decision to drop boxing from the Los Angeles program was not taken lightly. The IOC was very reluctant to do this, which is why it dominated the sport after Rio. I wanted to do my best to keep
“Boxing is a working-class sport that lifts people out of difficult situations. The IOC recognizes the optic of removing it while preserving sports such as sailing, fencing and downhill skiing.
“However, boxing cannot continue to rely on such an advantage to continue participating in competitions. With so many sports calling for it, it’s very difficult to get it back.
In Ireland, more than half of the Olympic medals come from boxing, so the disappearance of boxing will be felt more acutely than in other countries. It wasn’t until Anthia’s cheery demeanor died down during an interview when he spoke about the global boxing crisis. I am concerned about
“I’m worried, very worried,” admits Ireland’s head coach. “The Olympics is the pinnacle, every amateur his boxer’s dream, every boxer’s dream at the nationals next week. If we take it away, where will the sport remain?
“The coaches and boxers are the people they should communicate with, but they’re not. They should ask the coaches and boxers what they want. Every single one of them would tell them they want the Olympics.” But they don’t listen to them.
It may be superstitious, but Antia doesn’t believe the Olympics would go on without boxing. He feels that U.S. boxing, as the most powerful national organization, may still have a role to play in some solution.Their chief executive, Mike McAtee, said Kremlev’s He was one of the most vocal critics of his IBA leadership.
“What more can I say? Don’t you think boxing will disappear from the Olympics? Take for example, much of their Olympic history is boxing, Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard and the 2028 Olympics will be held in the United States All boxers and coaches around the world are I am training with that in mind.
“And the best professional boxers were the best amateur boxers, and they were Olympic medalists. If you took away the Olympics, you might take away the education of all those boxers. No, you have to believe something will happen.” Some solution will be found, otherwise it is too worrying to think what would happen.
Now the two seem tightly linked, and the solutions are farther apart than ever. JP Kinsella has seen great young talent emerging at Monkstown Boxing Club south of Dublin and worries they won’t be able to pursue their Olympic dreams.
“The Olympics is the carrot that you offer to all the good young fighters that come here,” Kinsella says. If you do, you’re just pushing your kids into the professional ranks of 17- and 18-year-olds, and who knows what they’ll bring.
“And because the professional scene is so poor in Ireland, they will have to move and they will be lost to the local community. At the moment, it’s a dire situation.
Monkstown Boxing Club has a number of fighters competing in the elite, including heavyweight prospect Jack Marley (left) eyeing Paris. As with most boxing clubs, they are a significant part of the local community. When the Monkstown Community Center closed for the festive period just before Christmas, the club found itself in ties with the nation on the horizon. His local GAA club, Cuala, provided them with a hall for training sessions.
And that’s how boxing clubs are viewed across Ireland and around the world. Paddy Barnes, his two-time Olympic medalist, recently wrote a letter to IOC President Thomas Bach in which Katie, who has signatures such as Taylor and Claressa Shields, emphasized the social value of sport, especially in poorer areas. It emphasizes the social value of sports.
For a long time it was the strongest card boxing had to play, but the IOC’s patience has worn off too much at the IBA and it’s no longer enough.
Zaur Antia refuses to imagine a world where boxing is not an Olympic sport. And it is understandable. In his 20 years he has made Irish boxing the envy of the world, producing brilliant talent and world champions. Without an Olympic dream, many young fighters would find no reason to join a high-performance program.
As it stands, the Irish boxer who travels this weekend may be the last to set foot on that particular path. It still seems impractical, like a solution has to be found. But it’s getting harder and harder to see a solution.
[ad_2]
Source link
