Sparta boxer Thomas O'Reilly earns Scotland call

O’Reilly, 13, has been shortlisted to represent his country in Erzurum, with the tournament kicking off on Saturday.

After his gold medal success at the British Championships, he was invited for assessments at Boxing Scotland’s high performance centre and is now part of the four-strong team.

Head coach Sam McLeod is backing O’Reilly to bring back a medal for the Grangemouth-based club.

“Thomas has had to put his summer on hold and has been working intensely at the high performance centre and with us,” he said. “He has made massive improvements since his British title victory. He ticks all the boxes and hasn’t cut any corners in preparation for the tournament.

"We are proud of his achievements and I believe he will come back with a medal.”​​​

Boxing Scotland’s emerging talent coach Niall Clark is leading the group and he feels the recent success at the Commonwealth Games will spur the likes of O’Reilly on.

“Our young boxers can be inspired by the fact that if our other Scottish boxers at the Commonwealth Games can do it, then they can do it too," he said.

"There is nothing that is out of reach for them, as shown by Scotland winning three gold medals.

"All of our boxers raised their game against the higher ranked competition they were facing.”