AmateurHeadline News

Dates and Host City confirmed for 2017 European Championships

The European Boxing Confederation (EUBC) have confirmed that the 2017 European Elite Men’s Championships will be held from June 14th to 25th in Kharkiv in North Eastern Ukraine.

The tournament will take place at the Sport Palace Lokomotiv.

The tournament is of added importance as it will act as the only qualifier for August’s AIBA World Elite Championships in Hamburg, Germany.

The top quarter finalists in each of the ten weights in Kharkiv will secure their places in book tickets for Hamburg.

A continuation of the decision to limit numbers at the World Championships, starting in Doha 2015, 280 boxers will compete at the 2017 World Elite Championships. 260 places are up for grabs through the various continental qualifiers, Ukraine will take ten places and there are ten wild cards.

Should an Irish fighter reach the round of 16 at the European Championships and then be eliminated by a Ukrainian, it is assumed that they will secure a qualification spot for the Worlds.

The ten-man Irish team for the Europeans will be decided by next months National Senior Elite Championships.

At the last European Championships Ireland secured three medals. Light welter Dean Walsh grabbed bronze, while Joe Ward and Mick Conlan claimed gold, with Ward becoming Ireland’s first ever double European gold medalist.

“It is a major competition for us; it is the qualifier for the World Championships.We think of every competition as major for the development and assessment of our squads.The European Championships is always a big tournament,” said Irish head coach Zaur Antia.

“We have to do everything possible to qualify and our team will give our best, give our best performances against the best in Europe.We look forward to this challenge very much.”

Eric Donovan joins Gavan Casey and Joe O’Neill on Episode 2 of the Irish Boxing Show:

Joe O'Neill

Reporting on Irish boxing the past five years. Work has appeared on irish-boxing.com, Boxing News, the42.ie, and local and national media. Provide live ringside updates, occasional interviews, and special features on the future of Irish boxing. email: joneill6@tcd.ie

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