By Gareth James

Lauren Price will make her second competitive appearance of 2021 at the Grand Prix event in Ústí nad Labem in the Czech Republic this week.

The 26-year-old has not boxed since winning silver at Hungary’s Bocskai tournament in February, where she was making her return after a 16-month absence.

Wales’s world middleweight champ Price narrowly lost out in the final in Hungary to long-term rival, Nouchka Fontjin.

Price was scheduled to compete in last month’s event in Serbia but was a late withdrawal fro the GB team to prepare for this week’s event instead

The Newport fighter is favourite for gold in Tokyo ahead of the European qualifying event in Paris scheduled for 4-8 June.

At the Belgrade event, fellow Welsh fighter Rosie Eccles struck gold but cannot compete in Tokyo as she was beaten in the London qualifier last year which was then stopped after a few days due to COVID-19.