McCormack twins and Yafai among 10-strong GB team for AIBA World Championships

22 August 2017 04:54

Great Britain are sending 10 fighters to the 2017 AIBA World Boxing Championships that begins in Hamburg next week.

England's Galal Yafai, the McCormack twins Luke and Pat, Calum French, Peter McGrail, Niall Farrell, Ben Whittaker, Tom Whittaker-Hart and Cheavon Clarke, in addition to Scotland's Lee McGregor, will travel after qualifying through their performances in June's European Championships.

Promising super-heavyweight Frazer Clarke misses the competition scheduled for August 25 to September 2, having been operated on to correct a torn hamstring.

GB Boxing's performance director and Anthony Joshua's trainer Rob McCracken said: "This is a very talented but still relatively inexperienced group so to have qualified 10 of them for the World Championships is an achievement in itself.

"The European Championships in June were a first major tournament for eight of these boxers (Yafai and Pat McCormack had competed at the Olympics in Rio) so for all of them to qualify for Hamburg and five of them to win a medal (at the European Championships) was a tremendous performance.

"It is still early days in the Tokyo cycle and the World Championships is a very tough event, so this a good opportunity for all of the boxers to show they possess what it takes to compete at this level and have the capability to go on and win medals as we progress towards the next Olympics in 2020."

Source: PA