BOXING Olympic Qualifiers Hosting

The Irish Amateur Boxing Association (IABA) have written a letter of intent to the World Amateur Boxing Association AIBA with a view to hosting one of the qualifying events for the 2012 Olympic Games.

IABA Administrative Director Don Stewart, confirmed that the IABA, which celebrates its 100th birthday next year, had written to the AIBA outlining their plans to hosts one of the qualifiers for the London Olympiad.

The IABA, which won Ireland's only medals at the 2008 Olympics, will face competition from Armenia, Germany, Turkey, Russia, Hungary and Azerbaijan for one of the European qualifiers.

According to AIBA, the purpose of opening these bids so early is to give each federation sufficient lead time to prepare bid files and necessary guarantees, including budgets.