Local boxing supremo Sean Crowley will be involved in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games which are due to start in less than three week but not in his normal role as a boxing coach.

Instead, Erne Boxing Club’s renowned and highly successful head coach will be part of the team fighting for Clean Sport and Integrity, as he is just one of three Doping Control Officers from Ireland selected to help manage the anti-doping programme in Tokyo.

However, this is not his first involvement in the Olympic Games.

London 2012

Sean explained: “I have been involved in Anti-Doping for over 15 years and this will be my third time to work at the Olympic games.

“I worked at the Sailing venue (Weymouth) in London 2012, and I was the only Doping Control Officer from Ireland working in Rio 2016, where I managed the testing for Boxing/Badmington/Table Tennis venues in the Rio Olympic Games plus Seated Volleyball and Table Tennis at the Rio Paralympic Games,”

“I have no idea where I will be stationed in Tokyo but obviously will be hoping to work at the Boxing venue again. However, I just delighted and extremely proud to be selected again, as the selection process was very rigorous with several assessments and examinations to be passed before being short-listed.”

Across the globe

Crowley advised that his past work in Anti-Doping has involved a vast array of sports and athletes from across the globe.

He said: “The bulk of my testing is domestic and includes a variety of sports such as rugby, soccer, GAA, cricket as well as testing elite athletes outside of competition.”

He advises his profession greatly benefits Erne Boxing Club: “My role as a Doping Control Officer enables me to plan and schedule my own workload.

“This coupled with flexi-time in my administration role with the Irish Judo Association allows me to plan time-off to attend boxing competitions and bring boxing teams overseas on a regular basis.”

He advised that despite the unplanned move to Lisnaskea that the Erne Boxing Club is going from strength to strength.

“We have retained the majority of our membership from when we were based in Derrylin and have added a further 12 new local members since re-opening in mid April. We also still have our cross-Border membership waiting to return once restrictions are lifted. The future is looking very bright, we have settled into our new facility and have some great talent coming through plus we also have plans to expand across two sites in the near future,” added Sean.

The club advised that they will be open for the next fortnight and will then close for their summer break but plan to reopen for the new season in mid-August. Anyone looking to join the club when it reopens must message the club via its Facebook page www.facebook.com/erneboxing.