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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Michael Scully

Coronavirus Ireland: Irish boxers not tested after abandoned Olympic qualifiers despite three of Turkish team contracting virus

Bernard Dunne has revealed he requested Covid-19 tests for the 13 Ireland's boxers who were at the abandoned Olympic qualifiers in London.

The Turkish Boxing Federation claimed that their head coach and two of their boxers were infected with the virus while participating in the European qualifiers, which started at the Copper Box Arena on March 14.

The IOC's Boxing Task Force called a halt after the third day of competition - and following Ireland captain Brendan Irvine secured his qualification for a second successive Games.

The BTF have refuted Turkey's claim but Dunne, Irish Boxing's High Performance Director, was clearly concerned that the qualifiers proceeded despite fears of the virus spreading.

"I'd like to test all my athletes, all my coaching team and all my support team," Dunne said.

"I’ve asked for it but none of our guys have any of the symptoms or don’t meet the criteria to be tested. Ideally we’d have them tested as soon as they came home.

"I asked for that. I was informed, 'unfortunately we can’t do it'."

Bernard Dunne – Irish Athletic Boxing Association High Performance Director (©INPHO/Laszlo Geczo)



Dunne told The Irish Times: “None of our guys would've fought any of the Turks. I think it was a Turk 75kg male and one of their coaches that tested positive.

“It has really evolved very, very quickly. When we went out there were very few cases in the UK. Again it grew exponentially and when it looked like there was any risk they made the decision to bring us home.

“We would, 100 percent, never put our athletes in any sort of danger whatsoever.

"We got very clear medical advice on it. We were happy with that. 

"We were in constant contact with the chief medical officer back at home and we were questioning over there as to what was going on.

“We notified all of the athletes as soon as we found out. What we wanted to be is very open and honest with all of our athletes so they all knew. They were all told.      

“Nothing changes for us. We're going into the ninth day now that we're home. It’s self-quarantine, good hand hygiene and general common sense.

"If our guys show any symptoms they know they have to contact me and we’ll go through the medical process".

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