Amy Broadhurst selected to box for Great Britain in final Olympic qualification tournament

The Dundalk fighter sensationally switched allegiance last month after the IABA’s High Performance Unit decided not to have a box-off to decide who would represent Ireland in the welterweight category at the tournament in Thailand.

Now Broadhurst will have a chance to not only to fulfil her childhood dream of being an Olympic but fighting in her preferred lightweight category if she qualifies for Paris.

There is now the possibility she could face reigning Olympic 60kg champion and long-time Irish domestic rival Kellie Harrington in Paris.

Harrington’s decision to defend her Olympic title this year meant Broadhurst had to move up two weights in order to try and qualify to box for Ireland at the Games.

Neither the Olympic Federation of Ireland nor the IABA made any attempt to block her decision to seek to change nationality in a bid to qualify for the Paris Olympics Games.

Normally athletes have to wait three years before they can represent another country but there are exceptions to the rule. These exceptional transfer cases have to be approved by the Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee.

Team GB’s decision to select her suggest that all the paperwork will be completed in time for her to represent them in the tournament in Bangkok. Ironically, it was a British fighter Rosie Eccles who ended Broadhurst’s ambition of securing Olympics qualification in the 66kg welterweight division at the European Games in Poland last year.

It remains to be seen how the decision of GB Boxing Performance Director, Rob McCracken to parachute Broadhurst into the British squad ahead of other boxers will go down in the amateur boxing community in the UK.

The 27-year old, who holds a British passport and qualifies through her English-born father Tony, impressed the coaches at a recent, multi-nation training camp in Colorado.

McCracken said, “’GB Boxing’ selection criteria dictates that we choose people that demonstrate the potential to qualify for and to win a medal at the Olympic Games and, having closely assessed all of the boxers at recent training camps and examined their past performance at international tournaments, the coaches were unanimous in their view of which boxer fulfilled the criteria most in the lightweight division.”

Broadhurst won gold medals in the light welterweight category at the World and European championships in 2022 as well as winning the Commonwealth title in the lightweight division in Birmingham the same year.

All the indications are she will turn professional after the Olympics and being an Olympian would be an asset in the early stages of the pro career when she is likely to be fighting in the UK.

Great Britain has five boxers qualified for Paris – Ireland has six – and they are sending eight boxers to Bangkok.

Last month Broadhurst was distraught when informed by the IABA High Performance unit that she would not get an opportunity to take part in a box-off for a place on the Irish team to compete in the final Olympic qualification tournament next month.

Instead, the place was going to Gráinne Walsh, who missed qualifying in the welterweight category at the first qualification tournament in Italy as a result of a woeful judging decision.