England and Wales squads named for the commonwealth games
England and Wales amateur boxing associations have announced 10 and two-man squads ahead of the Commonwealth Games in Delhi October 3rd-14th. This follows on from a highly successful European championship where the British team clinched five medals. It’s a decent size squad for the tournament, which will feature the new Olympic weight classes for the first time.
The full squad is:
49kg: Tommy Stubbs - Northside, Oldham
52kg: Khalid Yafai - Birmingham City Police, Birmingham
52kg: Andrew Selby - Splott ABC, Barry, Wales
56kg: Iain Weaver - Golden Ring, Ferndown
60kg: Tom Stalker - Salisbury ABC, Liverpool
64kg: Bradley Saunders - South Durham ABC, Stockton on-Tees
69kg: Fred Evans - St Josephs, Cardiff, Wales
69kg: Callum Smith - Rotunda, Liverpool
75kg: Antony Ogogo - Triple A Boxing Club, Lowestoft
81kg: Obed Mbwakongo - Lynn ABC, London
91kg: Simon Vallily - South Bank ABC, Middlesbrough
91kg+: Amin Isa - Miguels, London
Standouts of that side would be Welshman Andy Selby who took a gold medal at the Bocskai in Hungary. While Khalid Yafai, Iain Weaver and Tom Stalke all won silver medals in the recent European games. Another notable name is Bradley Saunders who competed at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, as did Yafai.
GB Boxing's Performance Director, Rob McCracken was very positive about the squad selection and stated: "This is an important part of our preparations for 2012 and I am looking for the team to build on the success we had at the recent European Championships and continue the tradition of British boxers doing well at the Commonwealth Games."
Following a successful Olympics in 2008, everything will be leading up to 2012 and this is a great opportunity for the squad to get some top-level experience. This comes hot on the heels of the announcement that there will be an Olympic trials to find the best boxers as McCracken and his team continues to implement new and innovative ideas to get the best out of the future British Boxers.
The Commonwealth Games will be a great chance for the young English and Welsh boxers to make a case for London 2012 and on the back of the last few tournaments there is a good chance there will be a decent medal haul along the way.
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