Olympic Boxing Coach Set to Be Vindicated in Shake-up of Sport

Terry Edwards, who feels he was subjected to a whispering campaign of extraordinary clumsiness in Beijing, appears to have survived as head coach of the Great Britain boxing team.

Since the squad returned with the country's best results since 1956, the sport has been scrutinized with forensic intensity because of factional squabbling. It took the gloss off the boxers' achievements and several threatened to quit the amateur game if Edwards were sacked. It now seems some will stay, giving Great Britain the nucleus of a squad which should do even better at London 2012.

At a meeting today UK Sport will inform Edwards and the Amateur Boxing Association of plans to restructure the sport. Derek Mapp, a director of the ABA and a former chairman of Sport England, will run boxing's elite system under an umbrella organization, the British Amateur Boxing Association.

The in-fighting had threatened to undermine Edwards and his boxers in China. Edwards has seen off his critics, thanks largely to the gold medal for James DeGale at middleweight and bronzes for the team captain and super-heavyweight, David Price, and the light-heavyweight Tony Jeffries. But tensions remain. "I don't know really what is going on," he said last night, "and I will be told at a meeting of UK Sport."

UK Sport has not advertised the position of performance director, which Edwards has held for the past few years. His reappointment as head coach, however, means several of the Beijing squad will be less tempted to turn professional. They were all fiercely loyal to the trainer they called Dad, especially DeGale, who would profit most from turning pro.

Edwards has fallen out with some club coaches for not acknowledging their role in the development of the best crop of young boxers this country has produced since the 50s. But over eight years he has overseen some fine results, the revival starting with Audley Harrison's gold in 2000.