TERRY Edwards has refused to be drawn on his future as British Olympic Boxing head coach – and has criticised the timing of Billy Joe Saunders' suspension.
The team had their most successful Olympics since 1956 this summer. Middleweight James DeGale won gold while David Price and Tony Jeffries took bronze in the super-heavyweight and light heavyweight divisions respectively.
However, the team's succ
ess was overshadowed by a series of incidents which have brought Edwards' future into question.
World lightweight champion Frankie Gavin was a surprise withdrawal from the squad after he failed to make the 60kgs weight days before the Games were due to begin.
The team's preparations were then thrown into further disarray when it emerged that the Amateur Boxing Association had suspended welterweight Saunders for allegations of lewd conduct while in a training camp in France before the Games.
Edwards said: "Now I want UK sport to increase the funding for the British boxing team.
"We have increased the profile of amateur boxing within Britain and that will then make James DeGale, Frankie Gavin and David Price carry on until 2012."
Despite tipping his young boxers for success when the Games come to London in four years' time, he would not be drawn on his future.
When asked whether he would carry on as head coach until 2012, Edwards said: "We'll see."
Saunders will face an ABA disciplinary hearing about the alleged lewd conduct incident which is said to have occurred in May.
Edwards said he did not have a problem with Saunders answering the charge, but slammed the timing of the decision to suspend him half-way through the Games when DeGale, Price and Jeffries were on the verge of their quarter-final bouts.
"If a boxer is accused of a breach of discipline then I've got nothing against that, but it's the timing that I am against," he said.
"It affected me but it was all blown out of proportion."
Edwards also insisted the decision to withdraw Birmingham southpaw Gavin was the right one. "I think it was impossible for him to give it his best shot," he said.
"I think it's no secret that since the World Championships he has had problems making the weight."
The full article contains 378 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
