What is taking place?
The ninth Women’s World Boxing Championships and Rio Olympic qualifiers.
Where is it happening?
Astana in Kazakhstan.
When does the tournament begin?
Boxing starts today at 2pm in Astana, which is five hours ahead of Ireland. There are 64 in the main draws.
Who is going?
There are 73 nations taking part and Ireland is sending a team of eight boxers with four coaches, a team manager and physiotherapist.
The Irish team is: 48kg Donna Barr (Twin Towns); 51kg Ceire Smith (Cavan); 54kg Dervla Duffy (Mulhuddart); 57kg Moira McElligot (St Michael’s Athy); 60kg Katie Taylor (Bray); 64kg Kelly Harrington (Glasnevin); 69kg Gráinne Walsh (Spartacus); 75kg Christina Desmond (Fr Horgan’s).
What is at stake?
Taylor is defending the world title she won in Jeju, South Korea two years ago and is hoping to win a record sixth world title in succession. None of the other Irish boxers has won titles at senior international championship level.
If Taylor wins again she automatically qualifies for Rio as the four World Championship semi-finalists in each of the three Olympic weights go through.
The Olympic weights are flyweight, lightweight and middleweight, ie Ceire Smith, Taylor and Christina Desmond.
So it’s a competition within a competition?
Yes, it is a World Championship in its own right and also a qualification event. In the World Championship event there are 10 weight divisions and 10 titles at stake, but there are only 12 places available for Rio: the four semi-finalists in the three assigned Olympic categories.
So it’s that straightforward?
No. It is more complex and actually weighs in favour of Taylor going to Rio. Boxers that made the third and fourth place box-offs in the Continental qualifiers in Turkey (Taylor came third) will also qualify for Rio if the athletes that achieved the qualification standard through the Continental route make the standard again in Astana.
In that case, the World Championship Olympic places prevail and the Continental Olympic places kick back to the boxer(s) that reached the third and fourth place box-offs through at their Continental qualifiers.
Taylor won the third and fourth place box-off at the European qualifiers in Samsun, Turkey last month beating, Bulgaria’s Svetlana Staneva.
If Taylor was beaten in Turkey, she must be off her game. What are her chances of successfully defending her title in Astana?
They are still very good. She lost in Turkey to Azeri southpaw Yana Alekseevna. But she goes to Astana as the undisputed world number one in the lightweight division, which she has been for a decade.
She also moved fast to remedy that defeat by inviting Sofya Ochigava to Ireland for a recent training camp at the new Irish boxing facility in Abbotstown. Ochigava is the Russian boxer Taylor beat in London 2012 and is also a counter-punching southpaw like Alekseevna.
Remind me what Taylor’s
record is again?
An almost unbelievable 165-8 with 67 successive championship wins on the road to collecting 18 championship titles made up of one Olympic gold, five World gold, six European gold, five European Union gold and one inaugural European Games gold medal.
Do the other Irish boxers have a chance?
They are all talented but have not yet reached the podium at senior championship level in European or World championships.
Desmond, one of the least experienced on the Irish squad, beat European Champion Nouchka Fontijn last month in Turkey but didn’t make the Rio qualification mark.
What could go against Taylor?
Her aura of invincibility has been punctured by Alekseevna, which will encourage all of her opponents. Her dad and long-time coach Pete is not in her corner.
What are her strengths?
She is still the best lightweight in history and at 29 is in her peak years. She sees the Alekseevna defeat as a wake-up call and there’s no reason to doubt that.
