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08/03/2008
Terry Edwards meets club coaches
Following the successful squad's return from Pescara, Terry Edwards and GB Programme Manager Matt Archibald met up with coaches Frank O'Sullivan (Birmingham City ABC - ABAE Coach of the Year 2007) and Tom Chaney (Hall Green ABC) in Birmingham on Thursday.
The coaches discussed the pre-Beijing programmes of Olympic qualifier Khalid Yafai and World Champion Frankie Gavin. With only five months until the Beijing opening ceremony all concerned were fully aware of the importance of making every day count. Frankie travels to Paris on Monday to attend a joint training camp with France and Italy. Khalid will take a well-earned week off before returning to the English Institute of Sport Sheffield to resume Olympic preparations. Both boxers are likely to be back in the ring in April at the Gee Bee tournament (Finland) with the other 5 qualifiers.
The previous evening Terry caught up with Head Coach Clive Hogbin (Kettering School of Boxing) and Michael Maguire (54kg). They discussed Michael's obvious disappointment at not being able to qualify for Beijing now that the 2008 qualification at 51kg and 54kg has been secured by Khalid Yafai and Joe Murray respectively. Michael was delighted for his Sheffield-based team mates, but disappointed that he would not also be able to travel with the team to Beijing. A sign of the current strength in depth of British boxing. The coaches and Michael agreed that he was now best served entering the ABA Championships at bantamweight and then resuming his international programme in May.
Terry Edwards said of his fellow coaches: "I have the utmost respect for Clive, Tom and Frank. Not only do they run superb community based clubs they also regularly turn out domestic champions of true international class. I look forward to watching Frank's other prodigy Gamal Yafai (Khalid's younger brother) in action tonight in Sheffield. I only wish the intensive GB programme allowed me more time to come out and see boxer's personal coaches more frequently.
"I really feel for Michael. He was initially highlighted as a 2012 hopeful. However, as with fellow 18-year-olds Khalid and Billy Joe, he forced his way into 2008 Olympic contention. Unfortunately for Michael, Joe Murray and Khalid Yafai capitalised on their chances, thus depriving him of a shot at 2008. Michael will bounce back from this. He has the prospect of European, World and Commonwealth Championships to look forward to on the international scene before London 2012."