Six women from GB Boxing to compete at Balkan Tournament in Bulgaria next week

By 2nd October 2021News

SIX women from the GB Boxing squad will travel to Botevgrad, Bulgaria for the Balkan Tournament, 6 – 9 October 2021.

It will be the first time any members of the GB squad have competed since a record-breaking display at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics when the boxers won six medals.

The competition in Bulgaria will be the first time boxers from Great Britain have competed in the new weight classes that have been recently introduced by the International governing body, AIBA.

Having collected three medals already this year, two gold and one bronze, Rosie Eccles will be looking to make it three from three as she competes in the welterweight category that now has an upper weight limit of 66kg (rather than 69kg).

A boxer returning from a longer lay off is Demie-Jade Resztan who will be having her first competitive outing since the 2019 world championships where she won light-flyweight (50kg) bronze.

Resztan will compete at light-flyweight as Tori Ellis Willets (52kg) has been selected to box at flyweight, after securing a silver medal on her last outing at the Alexis Vastine Memorial Tournament in 2020.

Shona Whitwell and Kerry Davis will be looking to build on the experience they gained earlier this year at the U22 European Championships when they compete at lightweight (60kg) and middleweight (75kg) respectively.

Newcomer Jodie Wilkinson makes up the team and will make her first international appearance since securing a place in GB Boxing’s Academy Squad, in the newly created light-middleweight (70kg) category.

None of the women that competed GB Boxing in the Olympic Games in Tokyo were considered for selection.

The action gets underway on Wednesday 6thOctober 2021. Results will be posted on the GB Boxing website and on our social media platforms.

The full list of boxers that will take part in the Balkan Tournament is:

Boxer Weight Class Country Club (Hometown)
Demie Jade Resztan 50kg England New Astley Boxing Club (Cambridge)
Tori Ellis Willets 52kg England Army (Birmingham)
Shona Whitwell 60kg England St Ives ABC (St Ives)
Rosie Eccles 66kg Wales Pontypool Boxing Club (Cardiff)
Jodie Wilkinson 70kg England Tigers ABC Leeds (Castleford)
Kerry Davis 75kg England Jewellery Quarter (Cheltenham)