Women fly the flag in Team England’s first outing of 2023
January 7, 2023 | by Matt Halfpenny
National Coach Mick Maguire heads up a first outing of 2023 for Team England when a five-strong team fly out to the Women’s Nations Cup in Sombor, Serbia on 15th January.
The tournament is renowned for its high quality of entries from nations across the world, with Indian and Kazakhstan among the nations who regularly send teams.
As it also features categories for Junior, Youth and Elite level performers, it was the ideal event to give international opportunities to female boxers at different levels ahead of the major domestic and European competitions to come.
The team will be made up of Juniors Ruby White (Sturminster Newton, Western Counties, Under 48kg) and Ella Lonsdale (Sunderland East End, Tynes, Tees and Wear, Under 57kg), Youth Amber Moss-Birch (Golden Ring, Southern Counties, Under 81kg, pictured above) and Elites Dione Burman (Braunstone Golden Gloves, East Midlands, Under 66kg) and Emily Asquith (Bridlington CYP, Yorkshire, Under 81kg).
“Those selected for this particular tournament have been done so for different reasons,” said Lead National Coach Amanda Coulson, who will be following the team’s progress closely. “For the two heaviest boxers, we wanted to get them some competition and experience because they are usually sole entries domestically.
“For Ruby and Ella, they are European champions at their respective weights and age groups who will remain at the same age group having won their medals a year young, so we want to keep them ready and sharp.
“With Dione, we wanted to reward her with some international boxing after the excellent job she did helping to prepare some of our boxers for the Youth Europeans and Worlds.
“She was still to be considered for England when we were putting the squad together, but has since got on to GB following assessments. However, we feel she will still value the experience and it will give her the chance to pull on an England vest abroad for the very first time.
“The Nations Cup has a strong history of attracting strong entries, despite being at the very start of the year, and those selected are looking forward to being pushed and having a marker of where they are at.”
After a record-breaking haul of 45 major tournament medals in 2022, it promises to be a challenging 12 months to maintain those standards in 2023.
But it is a challenge Coulson is relishing and she added: “It is the start of a very hectic year which will now include a new Senior Programme, but one we are very much looking forward to.
“Having Mick Maguire (pictured above) in place as the new National Coach will be a great addition to the team and I know he is just as keen as myself and Chris Connelly (Head of Performance) to continue making improvements.
“We had an exceptional year in 2022, but we are aiming to firmly build on that in this coming year.”
