Jason Quigley.
BY CHRIS MCNULTY
JASON Quigley departed Dublin airport this morning, Thursday, as part of a ten-strong Irish team, for a training camp in Kiev ahead of the 2013 European Senior Championships in Minsk next month.
Finn Valley ABC ace Quigley, the current Irish senior middleweight champion, is heading to compete in his first European Senior Championships and already the Ballybofey man has a unique Irish record. He is the only Irish boxer to have won two European gold medals having won the European Youths in 2009 and the European U23s in 2012.
As he goes in an attempt to chase a unique treble, Quigley is in the form of his life. Having captured his first National Elite Senior title with his win over Roy Sheahan in February, Quigley then won a multi-nations gold at the Usti nad Labem Grand Prix in March having beaten Serbia’s Alexsandr Drenovak, who reached the last-16 at the London 2012 Olympics.
In their training camp in Kiev, the Irish will be along with the hosts Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Armenia before traveling to the Belarus capital, Minsk for the 40th European Senior Championships on May 28th. Boxing begins on June 1.
“We’re looking forward to the European Championships, said Irish head coach Billy Walsh.
“We have a very tough training camp ahead of us in Kiev and the squad will be in tip-top shape for Minsk. We’ll be focusing on the best of our performances at the last few European Championships in Minsk and on taking it one fight at a time and on our own performances in each fight and each fight after that.”
2011 European champions Joe Ward and Ray Moylette are also on the Irish squad as are Olympic medalists John Joe Nevin, Michael Conlan and Paddy Barnes.
Quigley wears the middleweight Irish vest at the Palace of Sports Venue having won his last 21 bouts in a row.
In 2010, the then Illies Golden Gloves boxer Tyrone McCullagh won a featerweight bronze in Moscow.
NATIONAL UNDER 18S
MEANWHILE, a raft of Donegal boxers are in action at the National Under 18 Championships this weekend. As well as females Austeja Auciute (Finn Valley) and Maeve McCarron (Carrigart), other Donegal boxers in action are: Leigh Moran and Daryl Moran (both Illies at 49kgs), James O’Brien (Finn Valley, 56kgs), Mark McCole (Dungloe, 64kgs), Oran Shiels (Letterkenny, 69kgs), Terence Ward (Twin Towns, 75kgs), Francis Mongan (Finn Valley, 75kgs), Michael Gallagher (Finn Valley, 81kgs), Stephen Stokes (Raphoe, 91kgs) and Michael McConigley (Letterkenny, 91kgs).
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