Boxers who are part of Britain's Olympic programme were permitted to return to training last month, after reaching stage two of the return to training process as part of Government guidelines for the resumption of sport.

Fighters were now be able to take part in technical and open sparring sessions with each other as long as strict rules are followed.

Only designated groups will be able to spar while pads sessions can only take place if the boxer is wearing a face mask and the coaches have personal protective equipment.

Social distancing will be practiced during medical consultations and interactions with support staff, while coaches will only work with designated groups to minimise interaction.

Boxers will continue to be screened rigorously, including temperature checks at home and a daily wellness questionnaire.

McCracken said coaches and staff had done an ”amazing job” of supporting boxers during the lockdown period through the use of Zoom training sessions.

He added that the atmosphere in the gym in Sheffield was fantastic upon the return to training, while stressing that the coronavirus situation remains ongoing and a major disruption to plans.

McCracken said 12 months ago he had been cautiously optimistic about Britain’s boxing prospects at Tokyo 2020, with a ”talented and experienced” men’s team and a newer but talented women’s squad.

The GB Boxing performance director highlighted the teams progress over the past year.

”The men have continued to go from strength-to-strength and enjoyed more success in the course of 2019, most notably when the team returned from the 2019 world championships in Moscow with three medals – our best performance at that event since 2011,” McCracken said.

”The men are a battle hardened group of talented boxers. 

”And although some of them were understandably disappointed to have to wait for 12 more months, the fact that none of the men have been lured to the professional ranks shows they are as committed as ever to representing Team GB in Tokyo.

”The women have had an equally positive last 12 months.  We have seen some new talents emerge while some of our more experienced boxers have made a significant step-up and can now be considered top-class international boxers.

”The make-up of the five female boxers we selected for the Olympic qualifier in March 2020 illustrated this. 

”The team featured two exciting new additions in Charley Davison and Caroline Dubois, who both went on to win their first bouts at the qualifier - before it was suspended on day two owing to the coronavirus situation.

”Alongside them was the current world champion, Lauren Price, and Karriss Artingstall, who enjoyed the best 12 months year of her career in 2019 when she won silver at the European championships and bronze at the worlds.”

Britain will hope for further boxing success at Tokyo 2020, after securing one gold, silver and bronze at Rio 2016.

Britain topped the boxing medals table at London 2012 with three gold, one silver and a bronze.

McCracken said the postponement of Tokyo 2020 was a disappointment for boxers, but the additional preparation time for the Games could help the team at the rescheduled Olympics next year.

”The fact we now have an additional 12 months to work with this group of men and women is a big positive for the Olympic boxing programme,” McCracken said.

”At GB Boxing we are fortunate to have some of the best coaches in the world and giving our boxers another year to develop and work with them can only benefit their development and improve their chances of being successful in Tokyo in 2021.

”This is particularly the case for the less experienced boxers in our squad and I expect to see them develop significantly between now and next July.

”The postponement of the Olympic Games by one year is not a situation we ever expected to find ourselves in but having come through the challenges of lockdown we can now see the positives.

”And as we look forward to the 2021 Olympics, I am confident that as long as our boxers continue to work hard and develop that we can deliver yet more success for Team GB when the Games finally get underway.”