Canadian boxers look to punch ticket to Paris Olympics at Bangkok qualifier

Bantamweight Scarlett Delgado leads a team of nine Canadian boxers trying to fight their way into this summer's Paris Olympic field at a last-ditch world qualification tournament in Bangkok.

Canada has already qualified two boxers for Paris, which features 13 weight classes - seven for men and six for women.

Middleweight Tammara Thibeault (75 kilograms) and welterweight Wyatt Sanford (63.5 kg) secured their Olympic berths via gold-medal performances at year's Pan American Games. Both were members of Canada's five-boxer team for the Tokyo Olympics.

The Bangkok qualifier, which starts Friday and runs through June 3 at the Indoor Stadium Huamark, will determine the final 51 quota places (23 for women and 28 for men) for the Paris Games.

The number of Olympic boxing divisions for men has gone down by one while the women's competition has added one since Tokyo. But there will parity in total numbers of athletes with 124 men and 124 women.

Olympic boxing qualification comes in the form of several steps.

WATCH | Thibeault wins way to Paris Olympics:

The first were five continental qualifiers, with the Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile, covering the Americas. A first World Qualification Tournament was then held in Busto Arzizio, Italy, from Feb. 29 to March 12.

Competitors essentially had to finish in the top four in Italy to secure Olympic qualification, although that figure varied in some weight classes. Canada had two athletes finish in the top eight — Delgado and super-heavyweight Alexis Barriere, who subsequently opted to focus on a pro career.

Just making the Olympic field is an accomplishment, given the sport's popularity around the world and the fact each country can have no more than one competitor in a weight