Wearside-born boxing duo Pat and Luke McCormack set for Tokyo Olympic qualification bouts

12 men and women from the Great Britain Boxing squad will take part in the ‘Road to Tokyo’ European Olympic qualifying event in Paris this week.

The event will be a continuation of the Tokyo qualifier in London that was suspended after three days of competition in March 2020 owing to the outbreak of the Coronavirus and the resulting pandemic.

176 boxers from across Europe remain in the competition which is their last competitive opportunity to qualify for the Olympics.

The team from Great Britain is made up of eight men and four women and includes Wales’ reigning world champion, Lauren Price, and three men that won medals at the 2019 world championships, Pat McCormack (sliver), Peter McGrail (bronze) and Ben Whittaker (bronze).

In the men’s competition, Luke McCormack needs to overcome Tugrulhan Erdemir of Turkey in his first bout to be on the plane to Tokyo.

Twin brother, Pat, requires two wins to make his second Olympic Games and will box Monaco’s Hugo Micallef in his opening bout.

77 places at Tokyo 2021 are up for grabs in Paris. The final 13 Olympic places (8 male, 5 female) available to boxers from Europe will be allocated by a ranking system.

Although boxers will secure Olympic qualification at different stages in the Paris tournament, the competition will continue through to medal stages and a final in all 13 weight classes.

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