Road to Tokyo – London Qualifiers 2020

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TICKETS for the Boxing Road to Tokyo Olympic Qualifying event in London officially go on sale at 9.00am on Wednesday 22 January 2020 at www.seetickets.com, with prices starting at £5 (£2.50 concessions) for many of the sessions at the biggest Olympic boxing event to take place in England since the 2012 Olympic Games.

The 11-day tournament is being held at the Copper Box Arena on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park from 14-24 March 2020 and will see more than 350 men and women from over 40 countries compete for 77 places at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

The action will take place across eight men’s weight categories and five for women. 50 qualification places are available for the men and 27 for women.

Eight men and five women from the GB Boxing squad will be selected to compete at the tournament which will be their first opportunity to qualify for Tokyo 2020.

GB Boxing’s super-heavyweight, Frazer Clarke, who has high hopes of being selected to compete at the event said: “I have waited a long time for my opportunity to qualify for the Olympics so to have this event on home soil with the crowd behind us is going to be massive for me and all my teammates.

“As part of the GB Boxing squad we hardly ever compete in the UK so it is great that people will have the chance to come and support us as we look to secure qualification for Tokyo.

“The standard of boxing in Europe is very high so it’s a chance for people to experience top-class, elite boxing and see men and women, from both Great Britain and abroad, that are going to be big stars of the future.”

The arena at Boxing Road to Tokyo will have two rings for the first five days of competition. Seating will be unreserved in the Upper Bowl, allowing spectators to move between the two rings and get the best view of the action they want to watch.

For the final six days of competition when boxers can begin to secure their place at Tokyo 2020, there will be a single ring with reserved seating.

Ticket prices are:

Weekday, daytime session: Adult – £5, Concessions (U18’s, 65 and over, Students) – £2.50

Weekday evening & weekend sessions: Adult – £10, Concessions (U18’s, 65 and over, Students) – £5

On-the-door (weekday, evening & weekend sessions): Adult – £15, Concessions (U18’s, 65 and over, Students) – £5

Boxing Road to Tokyo in London is an IOC event which is supported by funding from the National Lottery and The Mayor of London and will be delivered in association with a range of partners including UK Sport, GB Boxing, the British Olympic Association (BOA) and the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

https://www.gbboxing.org.uk/2020/01/21/ ... -tomorrow/

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Olympic boxing qualifiers in London to be held behind closed doors

A European qualifying event for this year's Tokyo Olympic boxing tournament will be closed to spectators from Monday due to the coronavirus outbreak, organisers said.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) boxing task force which is organising the event in the Copper Box at London's Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park said the decision was due to "concerns for public, athlete and volunteer welfare."

The boxing is also being streamed live on the Olympic Channel, with 53 bouts scheduled on Monday. Sunday was the second day of the competition, which has gathered together 342 male and female boxers from 43 countries with 77 Olympic spots available.

Coronavirus: Postponements and cancellations in sport

Another qualifier is scheduled for Paris in May, but that remains uncertain with sport across the continent being cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak.

There was disappointment for home fans when British women's welterweight Rosie Eccles went out on a 4-1 split decision to Russian fourth seed Saadat Dalgatova, who reaches the quarterfinals.

"Potentially one more chance... but I've got to prove now after that performance that I've earned my place at that second qualifier as well. I'm hoping my Olympic dream isn't over and that this was just a blip on the way," Eccles told the BBC.

Stateless Afghan refugee boxer Farid Walizadeh suffered a blow to his hopes of fighting at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics after injury ruled him out of his lightweight fight.

Poland's Damian Durkacz was given a walkover to the last-16 in the 57-63kg category as a result of the 22-year-old's no-show.

Walizadeh, who fled Afghanistan on foot as a seven-year-old and ended up in an orphanage in Istanbul before being relocated to Portugal, can also still qualify in Paris.

Reaching Tokyo has always been a long shot, however, for the youngster who received a scholarship from the IOC last March to train full-time.

The Tokyo Games are due to begin in July. The London tournament is being organised by an IOC task force after the suspension of international federation AIBA last June because of issues concerning governance and finance.

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Olympic Boxing Qualifiers For Europe Will Be Suspended

The European Olympic Boxing Qualifying tournament is to be suspended after today’s evening session because of the changing world situation over coronavirus.

The tournament began on Saturday and was supposed to run until March 24 at the Copper Box in London.

However, after the decision was made to continue behind closed doors on Monday, the teams were told on Monday afternoon that this evening’s session will be the last. A statement said that qualification would be suspended until May, with the remaining quote places decided in May and June.

Two qualifying tournaments have already taken place, for Africa and Asia/Oceania. The Americas tournament, which was due to start in Buenos Aires next week, has already been postponed.

The final world qualifying event, scheduled for May, will also now be postponed.

Morinari Watanabe, the head of the IOC’s Boxing Task Force, addressed team officials at a meeting after the afternoon session informing them of the decision.

Increasing travel restrictions meant that there were worries for teams and officials getting home after the event if it had run its course.

A total of 77 quota places for the Tokyo Olympics were due to be up for grabs in London. Of those 16 will be decided tonight and they will stand for when qualifying resumes. The plan would be to start up the tournament at the same point it finishes tonight.

The statement said: “In light of the constantly changing landscape worldwide, the IOC Boxing Task Force (BTF) has decided today to suspend the current Boxing Road to Tokyo European qualifier in London, Great Britain, and the subsequent Americas and final world qualifiers, which were scheduled to take place in May.

“The European qualifier, which started on 14 March and was planned to run until 24 March, will be closed after today’s evening session.

“Safeguarding the well-being of the athletes, officials and all other participants is a top priority for the BTF. Since the preparation phase of the event, the BTF has been working in close cooperation with the Local Organising Committee (LOC) – the delivery body of the competition – as well as its stakeholders, its own medical experts and the national health authorities, to set up the necessary precautionary measures.

“The BTF eventually took the decision to suspend the event today, amid increasing global travel restrictions and quarantine measures, in order to allow the participants from over 60 countries to adjust their travel plans and return home.

“The BTF will continue to evaluate the situation daily, aiming to complete the distribution of the remaining Tokyo 2020 boxing quota places in May and June. The BTF’s priority remains the qualification of athletes on the field of play, and it will inform all stakeholders as soon as more information is available.”

The IOC also said that it was still committed to staging the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.

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Olympics: Final Chance World Qualifying Tournament Could Be Under Threat

The final chance world qualifying tournament for the Tokyo Olympics could be under threat if action cannot restart by May or the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decide not to delay the Games in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

There is a two-stage qualification for the Tokyo Games, with boxers who do not qualifying via the four Continental tournaments getting a second chance of making it to the Games via a World qualification tournament.

The Africa and Asia/Oceania tournament were completed, in Dakar and Amman respectively, but the European tournament was suspended after three days of a scheduled 11, with 16 of the 77 available quota places allocated.

The Americas event, which was due to start in Buenos Aires next week with 49 quota places available, has been called off, while preparation for the world qualifier, due to take place in May on the outskirts of Paris, is now on hold.

With the IOC not publicly willing to consider a delay to the Games, which are due to start on July 24, time is short to complete qualification.

The Boxing Task Force, which was put in charge of Olympic boxing after AIBA was barred from running boxing at the Olympics, says it wants the qualification process to be completed in May and June. That timescale already looks tight.

If they cannot complete the continental qualifiers by mid-May one option would be to scrap the world qualifier. The 50-56 quota places due to be available there could be redistributed among boxers who narrowly failed to qualify or be distributed by the tripartite commission, which issues invitations to under-represented countries.

It is understood that UK Sport, the government agency that came up with the money to stage the qualifier in London, has expressed an interest in staging any rearranged European qualifier, but another option might to finish just relocate it to Paris.

If the Olympics are postponed, the 114 boxers who have already qualified have been assured their place is safe.