THE European Games begin on Friday (June 21) at the Sport Palace in Minsk, Belarus.
GB have a strong squad going with veteran super-heavyweight Frazer Clarke leading the charge. Their menโs team is coming off a gruelling training camp in Kazakhstan. โItโs the fifth time Iโve been there,โ Frazer said. โI donโt think anyone in the worldโs been to Kazakhstan five times apart from me. So I went there, I knew what it was all about, I knew you always come back from there in a good place. Itโs hard training out there and thereโs so many boxers. There were five [at 91kgs to spar]. They were all at a good level, it was all good competitive sparring.โ
Looking forward to these Europeans he says, โIโm excited because I like the big tournaments. Itโs difficult for me because Iโve been around for so long, Iโve been to every tournament about five times. The big ones are the ones that really get the juices going. So Iโm really up for this one now. Iโm feeling fit, sharp and mentally there.
‘Iโm 100 percent and at the top of my game, thereโs not many people in the world that can beat me’
Peter McGrail
โThereโs only a couple of big ones left, with the Worlds and the Olympics, and the qualifiers, Iโm just enjoying all I can because these are going to be some of the last times Iโm going to box for my country.
โWeโre down to the crunch, now more than ever, Iโm not looking from the sidelines, Iโm in the thick of it.โ
This championship is effectively a European Olympics, a multi-sport competition which for most of the boxing team is their first event representing Team GB. Bantamweight Peter McGrail however boxed in the Youth Olympics for Great Britain and sees this tournament as a crucial step on his path to Tokyo 2020.
โThereโs going to a [Athleteโs] Village, thereโs going to be other sports there, itโs going to be a good experience, Iโm looking forward to enjoying it with the team,โ McGrail said. โI can see a good few medals coming back and a few golds.โ
He is confident in himself. โObviously in 2017 I won [the European championships], itโs similar opponents and Iโve got two years more experience and Iโm feeling stronger, feeling fitter. I donโt see why I canโt win the gold,โ he said. โIf [Mykola] Butsenkoโs there, he was tough fight in the final out in Ukraine, I think thereโs a good Russian and Kurt Walkerโs going. Heโs a good fighter. He caught me on an off day though when he beat me. Iโve boxed him a few times. Itโs 2-1 to me.
โI know that if Iโm 100 percent and at the top of my game, thereโs not many people in the world that can beat me.โ
Given the turmoil with AIBA, which is the governing body for international boxing but has been suspended from running the Olympic boxing tournament itself, these Europeans do not relate to qualification for Tokyo 2020. The judging though certainly will be under scrutiny and it remains a valuable chance for the boxers to test themselves against the continentโs finest in a major championship.
Two Welsh boxers make up the GB womenโs team, Lauren Price at middleweight and Rosie Eccles at 69kgs. They were preparing at a camp in Germany before returning to the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield.
Eccles lost to Englandโs Sandy Ryan at last yearโs Commonwealth Games but she will be representing Britain in this event. โItโs a big opportunity, a big stage, perfect really,โ she said. โWe had to qualify, so Sandy didnโt qualify. It wasnโt on selection, it was on qualification. I qualified just a year ago now. So that gives me a big opportunity in the lead up to prove my place and my value to be the one to go to Tokyo.
โI feel really proud obviously to be representing Great Britain as a whole in a multi-sport Games, which is the closest Iโm going to get before the Olympic Games. Exciting.โ
Full GB line-up:
MEN
Aqeel Ahmed, 49kgs, Scotland, Kier Hardie
Galal Yafai, 52kgs, England, Birmingham City
Peter McGrail, 56kgs, England, Everton Red Triangle
Calum French, 60kgs, England, Birtley ABC
Luke McCormack, 64kgs, England, Birtley ABC
Pat McCormack, 69kgs, England, Birtley ABC
Mark Dickinson, 75kgs, England, Birtley ABC
Benjamin Whittaker, 81kgs, England, Firewalker ABC
Cheavon Clarke, 91kgs, England, Gravesham ABC
Frazer Clarke, 91&kgs, England, Burton ABC
WOMEN
Rosie Eccles, 69kgs, Wales, Pontypool Boxing Club, Pontypool
Lauren Price, 75kgs, Wales, Pontypool Boxing Club, Pontypool