British amateurs try for Olympic places in Italian tournament by Ian McNeilly Feb 22nd 2008

The off-season tranquillity of Adriatic seaside resort Roseto degli Abruzzi (near Pescara), so named after the rose bushes the fishermen ‘Abruzzi' used to plant outside their cottages, is about to be disturbed as 250 of the best amateur boxers from 41 countries in Europe descend upon the town in a bid to chase 26 of the remaining 51 Olympic qualification spaces open to Europeans. (The remaining 25 will be decided in the second and final Olympic qualification tournament in Athens, 7-14 April.) The tournament begins on Monday (25th Feb) and ends next Saturday (1st March). The 28th is a rest day. The first round of qualifications was decided at the AIBA World Championships in Chicago (October 2007), where Team GB qualified a record breaking four boxers (Joe Murray, Frankie Gavin, Bradley Saunders & Tony Jeffries) including the first ever British world amateur champion in Gavin (60kg) and bronze medals for Murray (54kg) and Saunders (64kg). Boxers can only guarantee qualification via this tournament by reaching the final. In weight categories (54, 57, 69 & 75kg), the losing semi-finalists will box-off to decide who claims the third qualification. Therefore Friday 29th February (semi-finals) will be the most eagerly anticipated day of boxing. Some boxers will have to win four bouts in five days to qualify. GB Head Coach Terry Edwards said: ‘It is arguably tougher to qualify boxers at the European qualifiers than at the Worlds. Nevertheless the team is very strong and has trained hard for this event. Everyone knows what they have to do.' Boxing will take place in the ‘Palazzo dello Sport' a basketball bowl that has been set-up to accommodate two Olympic size boxing rings. Weight England Scotland Wales 48 Paul Butler 51 Khalid Yafai Andrew Cuthbert Mo Nasir 57 Stephen Smith Darren Traynor 69 Billy Joe Saunders Joe Selkirk 75 James DeGale James Quigley 91 Danny Price Stephen Simmons +91 David Price N.B. British boxers have already qualified at 54, 60, 64 and 81kg so no British boxers are permitted to enter at this weight. Eight of the thirteen boxers above receive funding from UK Sport and train centrally at the Sheffield English Institute of Sport under GB Head coach Terry Edwards. Non-funded boxers from Scotland and Wales will be looked after by national coaches Kevin Smith and Tony Williams respectively.

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