The events at the National Stadium on the South Circular Road last night may represent a watershed in Irish sport. Twelve young boxers emerged from the National championships still with hopes of joining the Irish team for the Olympic Games in Sydney.

Boxing has always been one of Ireland's strongest suits insofar as Olympic competition is concerned. But now there is a distinct and worrying possibility that, because of the alterations in national boundaries in Europe and elsewhere as well as qualifying requirements, Ireland may be left without any boxing representative. That would be something approaching a national sporting travesty.

This was confirmed to me yesterday by the president of the Irish Olympic Council, Pat Hickey. "The boxers have always been a central and unifying element in Olympic teams. They are the best mixers. All the other competitors admire them and enjoy their company. The others, in all sports, always want to go to watch the boxers and to cheer them on. Irish boxers have won nine medals and no other discipline can approach that.

"They are a gregarious lot and everyone appreciates how hard they work and how dedicated they are, and how valuable they are to the morale of the entire team.

"The Irish Olympic Council recently donated £10,000 to the Irish Amateur Boxing Association in order to increase the chances of Irish boxers qualifying for the Games. It is very important for Irish sport. It will be an absolute shame if we do not have a strong representation in Sydney," Hickey said. The situation now is that there are three remaining tournaments in which Irish boxers can qualify. They are in Halle, Liverpool and Venice later in the spring.

Previously the situation was that it had been almost automatic that a national champion in any weight would be selected for the Irish squad if the selectors, the Central Council of the IABA, felt that the boxers were good enough to make a good showing and if there was enough money to send them.

This situation changed dramatically in recent years with the break-up of the Soviet Union. The problem was further exacerbated by the fact that many new African, Asian and South American states also wanted to send boxers to the Olympics.

In addition, an undercurrent of propaganda by the anti-boxing lobby within the Olympic movement itself put further pressure on boxing and finally a cut was made in the numbers which would be allowed to take part, the cut-off point being a limit of 32 in each weight division.

The opportunities began to diminish for boxers from the United States and Europe and Irish boxers have been caught in the fall-out.

Last night therefore was a crucial night for Irish boxing and its influence on the Olympic Movement here. The IABA and the IOC now have the responsibility to give all of the champions every possible encouragement and help in the hope that a realistic team can be sent to Sydney, so that Ireland's record in Olympic competition can be protected and embellished.