GB Boxing announces team for European Games in Krakow
GB Boxing has announced its team for the European Games in Krakow, with the line-up serving as the first Olympic qualification event leading up to the Paris 2024 Games.
GB Boxing has announced its team for the European Games in Krakow.
The line-up will serve as the first Olympic qualification event leading up to Paris 2024, with the tournament starting 23 June and giving athletes with the opportunity to secure a spot at the Summer Olympics in France next year.
GB boxing had an outstanding squad at the Tokyo Games, winning six medals in total – the best tally for a British Olympic boxing team in a century.
The only returning Olympian in this European Games’ squad is Charley Davison, a mum-of-three who has moved up to 54kg.
She told Sky Sports: “Selection is always a daunting and nervy time because you train so hard in the lead-up to it, so I am just grateful to have been given this opportunity.
“It will be my first European Games so I want to enjoy every moment and make sure I box to the best of my ability and make sure all the hard training pays off.
“Having been to an Olympics, I have had a taste of what it is like, so it makes me strive to get that chance again and this time go one step further and get a medal.
“I believe I am more than capable of getting myself on that podium now I have that experience from Tokyo and other international tournaments I’ve been to in the last few years.
“The European Games is the first step towards that so it will just be about getting in the ring, being myself and boxing naturally and then hopefully the qualification will come with that.”
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has excluded boxing from the programme of the 2028 Games due to ongoing concerns with the International Boxing Association (IBA) and the recurring judging scandals that have plagued the sport.
A new breakaway group called World Boxing, supported by nations including Great Britain, aims to replace the IBA as the international federation, gain recognition from the IOC, and reinstate boxing’s position in the Games.
Great Britain is among the countries that boycotted IBA’s men’s and women’s World Championships.
As a result, GB boxers have had to compete in other tournaments on the international circuit to adequately prepare themselves.
