Contract win to stage Olympic qualifiying boxing tournament
Sheffield major events company, MLS, has been awarded a central role in staging the most prestigious amateur boxing tournament to take place in Great Britain since the London 2012 Olympics.
The European Continental Olympic Boxing Qualifying Tournament for Tokyo 2020 will be held at London’s Olympic Park at the Copper Box Arena, in March 2020.
Great Britain has been selected to stage the tournament and MLS will perform the roles of Event Director and Venue Operations.
With over 400 boxers, both male and female, across all Olympic weight categories, the event will span 10 days of competition and will be a huge draw for all Olympic hopefuls in Europe looking to qualify for the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.
Matt Holt, CEO of GB Boxing, said: “We are delighted to be working in with MLS on the Tokyo 2020 Olympic qualification event.
“MLS have a great track record of delivering quality events both in boxing and other Olympic and Paralympic sports, and we have every confidence that the event at the Copper Box in London in March will provide Europe’s best boxers with the best stage possible to qualify for the forthcoming Olympic Games.”
John Timms, MLS director of events, will be the appointed event director, while Alison Bridge, senior events manager at MLS, will oversee Venue Operations.
Timms said: “Our relationship with GB Boxing and knowledge of boxing has grown over the years with staging the annual GB Boxing Championships in Sheffield, and then operating the GB’s Lionhearts boxing franchise in the World Series of Boxing over the past few years.
“This event demonstrates such confidence in our work, and we will ensure we stage one of the best tournaments held on British soil.”
The event in March adds to a growing portfolio of events the Sheffield-based company has secured and delivered.
Most recently, this summer, MLS staged the entire sports programme and international administration for the 2019 World Transplant Games held in the North East, whilst earlier in the year it helped deliver the ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup Series.
MLS managing director, Yuri Matischen paid tribute to his fellow directors, current and former staff, for the company’s ongoing success in the competitive world of sports management.
He said: “Our founding chairman, Gerry Montgomery, passed away this summer, but he would have been proud as punch to know that next year we will be staging three international elite performance events.
“We are particularly proud of helping stage the World Para Powerlifting Championships in Manchester in February 2020, as we have a long affinity with supporting Paralympic athletes having also staged the World Goalball Championships, World and European Boccia Championships, IPC Shooting World Cup, Factor 40 Paralympic Table Tennis and the European Wheelchair Fencing Championships.”
MLS already works with national charity Transplant Sport UK in providing a turnkey management solution to staging the annual Westfield Health British Transplant Games.
This involves 3,000 participants across four days of competition, in one of the country’s largest multi-sports festivals, promoting the benefits of organ donation and transplantation and celebrating the lives of transplant recipients and donors.
