by Irish Paddy Cronan | Fri. Aug. 20, 2010
The Irish Boxing Team arrived in Singapore last week ahead of the Olympic Youth Games opening ceremonies. Joe Ward and Ryan Burnett both qualified by virtue of their exploits at the 2010 AIBA World Youth Championships - Ward took home the Gold, while Burnett had to settle for the Silver.
Ward, who boxes out of Moate, B.C. in Westmeath, is being strongly tipped to bring home the Gold. His pedigree is not in doubt; in addition to his World Youth Medal at middleweight, he earned a World Junior Gold Medal at light middleweight.
Burnett boxes out of the famous Holy Family Gym in Belfast, and has every chance of improving upon his Silver at the World Games
This tournament is different than the usual format of AIBA tournaments: if either Irish fighter receives a bye they could bring home Gold after winning just two fights!
Without the bye they would need to win three bouts.
Another difference is there will be a box-off between both losing semi-finalists for the Bronze Medal, as opposed to the normal AIBA protocol of giving both losing boxers a Bronze. The lack of bouts is brought about because there will only be 6 boxers competing in each weight division.
Director of Boxing for the AIBA Dominic O’Rourke is confident Burnett and Ward will add to their medal tally for the year if they replicate the form they showed at the AIBA World Youth Championships earlier this year.
"Joe and Ryan performed magnificently at the AIBA World Youth Championships,” said O'Rourke. "If they perform to the standard they performed at in the AIBA World Youth Championships at the Youth Olympics then I would be confident that they will do well in Singapore."
"Joe and Ryan are two very talented boxers and we would like to wish them and all the Irish team the very best of luck in Singapore."
Burnett and Ward will be accompanied to the games by Irish Coaches Jimmy Payne and Jim Moore (the father of former AIBA World Bronze Medallist and current pro James Moore).
For more info on the competition format please check out http://www.aiba.org/en-US/yog_competition_format.aspx
All fights will be streamed live on Channel 7 of the Official Webcasting Platform of the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games @ www.youtholympicgames.org.
The following are the times and dates for all bouts:
23 August 10:00 - 13:00 GMT 5th place matches
24 August 10:00 - 13:00 GMT Bronze Medal matches
25 August 6:00 - 11:30 GMT Gold Medal matches