Antiguan Boxer Gets Olympics Berth

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Boxer Alston Ryan (right) fights at the 2019 Pan American Games where he won bronze for Antigua and Barbuda.
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By Neto Baptiste

UK-based Antiguan boxer, Alston Ryan, will compete at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics after he was recently awarded a quota slot for the summer Games by the sport’s governing body in the Americas.

This means that the boxer, who won bronze at the Pan American Games in 2019, is the second Antiguan athlete to be assured of a spot at the July 23 to August 8 Olympic Games in Japan. Sprinter Cejhae Greene qualified in the 100 meters event back in March this year.

Alston Ryan (second from right), celebrates with other boxers after winning bronze at the 2019 Pan American Games.

Secretary General at the National Olympic Committee (NOC) Cliff Williams, explained that Ryan’s spot at the Games was assured after a qualifier originally slated for Argentina last year was cancelled last month because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Organisers of the qualifier were forced to utilizing rankings as a means of qualifying the boxers for the Olympics with Ryan ranking fifth in the lightweight division.

The fighter, who is part of the UK-based Repton Boxing Club, is the first Antiguan boxer to win a medal at a major games.

In March, Greene registered a time 10.01 seconds at the Tropical Elite Sprints Meet held in Miami, Florida in March to eclipse the qualifying mark of 10:05 for the Olympics and become the first Antiguan to secure a spot at the Olympics.

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