WITH the European championships and the Olympic Games providing the lure there has been a record entry for the National senior championships which start at the National Stadium tonight. There will be two sessions tomorrow, the semifinals are set for next Friday with the finals on March 8th.
All but two of last year's champions are entered, those missing are Neil Sinclair from Belfast, who has turned professional and James Clancy from Kilfenora, who injured a hand in training and has pulled out of the heavyweight division.
The outright winners are practically guaranteed a place in the European championships in Denmark at the beginning of April and those who manage to reach the last eight there will qualify for the Olympic Games in Atlanta in July.
Surprisingly there is a very small entry in the two lightest divisions. The final in the fly weight section is already set up with the champion, Damaen Kelly meeting David Sweetman, also from Belfast, in the final, while only three have entered the light fly division - Jim Prior, the champion from Darndale, Colin Moffat from Holy Family and Brian Mathers from Newry. Moffet and Mathers meet for the right to take on Prior.
The biggest entries are in the light middleweight (15) and heavy (12) divisions with 12 also at lightweight and 11 each at light welter and welter.
In the absence of the heavyweight champion, much interest will focus on Cathal O'Grady, the 19 year old Meathman from the St Saviour's club in Dublin who is seeded number two to Paul Douglas from Belfast. O'Grady is the reigning European junior champion and a match between him and Douglas (rated sixth in the division in the Barcelona Olympics) would be very interesting.
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