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| Home » News » Beijing bound stars put Sheffield on boxing map
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| Beijing bound stars put Sheffield on boxing map |
Sheffield has been placed firmly on the Olympic boxing map following knockout performances by a team of competitors based at the city’s English Institute of Sport Sheffield (EISS).
Seven boxers, who train at the prestigious Sheffield International Venues (SIV) facility, have now qualified for the Beijing Olympics, this August.
Eighteen-year old Billy Joe Saunders (69kg), from Hoddesdon ABC in Herts, Birmingham’s 18-year-old Khalid Yafai (51kg) and Londoner James DeGale (75kg) put in exceptional performances at a tournament in Pescara, Italy, to finish on the podium and clinch places at the 2008 Games.
They trio will join already-qualified world champion Frankie Gavin, world bronze medalists Joe Murray and Bradley Saunders and Tony Jeffries who also train under GB coach Terry Edwards at the EISS.
Four remaining weights could also still qualify at the final deciding tournament next month in Athens - the city where Amir Khan claimed an Olympic silver medal in 2004.
Matt Archibald, the Sheffield-based GB programme manager, said: “Terry Edwards has put together a tough and challenging programme for the boxers. Terry has made his programme work by recruiting a support team that he believed, and now has demonstrated, could match the talent of his boxers. Their success shows how the coaches, support staff and boxers are effectively coalesced around Terry's vision. The team is confident we can qualify more in Athens.”
The GB squad has trained at the EISS since the Amateur Boxing Association of England’s relocation to the SIV-managed venue in 2006.
Paul Hudson, general manager of the EISS, which is managed by Sheffield International Venues (SIV), said: “We are extremely proud of all the Sheffield-trained boxers who have qualified so far and it will be fantastic to have such a strong representation in Beijing.
“Four years ago, Amir Khan was the only British boxer to qualify for the Olympics, but the subsequent funding that the sport has attracted, along with the success of the podium team’s training programme at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield means that there’s every chance that each weight category will be filled this year.”
Photo: (L-R) Bradley Saunders, Khalid Yafai, James DeGale, Joe Murray and Tony Jeffries.
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