Olympic Boxers aiming for Beijing medals

British Olympic Association's director of elite performance, Clive Woodward, will personally be working with the Amateur Boxing Association on its new performance management group.

With only one boxer qualified for the last two Olympic Games, medals for British Olympic Boxers Amir Khan (Silver at Athens 2004) and Audley Harrison (Gold at Sydney 2000) represent an amazing performance. Amateur boxing has always struggled to retain high calibre boxers due to lure of the professional ranks, but it is hoped that additional funding, in the leadup to London 2012, will help to reduce the flow.

Form

British boxers had a succesful Commonwealth Games in 2006. An overview of the leading British boxers is contained in the table below;

Weight Category	UK Rank	Competitor	Euro Rank	2006 Championship performance
Light Flyweight (48 kg)	1	Darran Langley (England)	-	Silver @ Commonwealth Games
	2	Mo Nasir (Wales)	8	Bronze @ Commonwealth Games
Flyweight (51 kg)	*	Don Broadhurst (England)	-	Gold @ Commonwealth Games
	2	Stuart Langley (England)	-	1/4 Finals @ European Championships
Bantamweight (54 kg)	1	Joe Murray (England)	-	1/4 Finals @ European Championships
Featherweight (57 kg)	1	Stephen Smith (England)	5	Gold @ Commonwealth Games Bronze @ European Championships
	*	Darren Edwards (Wales)	-	Bronze @ Commonwealth Games
Lightweight (60 kg)	1	Frankie Gavin (England)	8	Gold @ Commonwealth Games
Light Welterweight (64 kg)	3	Jamie Cox (England)	10	Gold @ Commonwealth Games
	4	Jamie Crees (Wales)	-	Bronze @ Commonwealth Games
Welterweight (69 kg)	1	Neil Perkins (England)	7	Bronze @ Commonwealth Games
Middleweight (75 kg)	1	Fundo Mhura (Scotland)	9	Silver @ European Championships
	4	James Degale (England)	10	Bronze @ Commonwealth Games
Light Heavyweight (81 kg)	*	Kenneth Anderson (Scotland)	-	Gold @ Commonwealth Games
	2	Tony Jeffries (England)	10	-
Heavyweight (91 kg)
Super Heavyweight (+91 kg)	1	David Price (England)	-	Gold @ Commonwealth Games
	*	Kevin Evans (Wales)	-	Silver @ Commonwealth Games

* competitors who won medals at the Commonwealth Games, but are no longer competing.

Commonwealth Games medal improvement from two Golds to five Golds. It looks likely that there will be more than one British boxer at Beijing.

Qualification

The first eight boxers from different NOCs in each weight category at the AIBA World Boxing Championships in Moscow, 15-30 September 2007, will qualify for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games (except the heavy weight and super heavy weight categories from which the first four boxers only will qualify). Between seven and nine additional places (dependant on weight category) will be available, to NOCs not already qualified, at two European Continental Olympic Qualifying Events, that will occur in 2008, to determine the remainder of the places from the European Region, and act as a second chance for British boxers.

What to watch

All the finals occur on the final two days of competition.