PARIS 2024 is the ultimate aim for young Bradford boxer Harris Akbar, after his first taste of the Olympics experience out in Tokyo.

The 22-year-old, who is from Great Horton, is part of the GB Boxing programme, and was out in Japan sparring with some of the UK's top amateur fighters to help them prepare for their bouts.

And he clearly did a good job, with sparring partner Pat McCormack ending up with a silver medal.

Akbar is still on a high from his time in Tokyo, saying: "It was an unreal atmosphere out there, with everyone competing and getting ready for the biggest tournament of their lives.

"I was helping some of the lads at my weight (welterweight) prepare, and helped one of them get a silver medal in Pat McCormack, who was one of the favourites to win in his division."

There were plenty of restrictions in place in Tokyo due to coronavirus, and Akbar said: "The furthest we could go, other than the bus rides to the venues, was the hotel balcony, though you got some nice views from there.

"But I did get to meet Andy Murray and Adam Peaty, which was brilliant.

"It's not just the superstars like those two, I got to meet a lot of people who went on to win medals for the first time, and that was one of the best things about being out there, getting to see the next big things."

Could Akbar himself be the next big thing?

He said: "The Olympics in Paris in 2024 are the ultimate aim, but there's a couple of stepping stones before then.

"I'm boxing in the World Championships out in Serbia in two months, there's the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham next year, the European Championships, and another World Championships before the next Olympics.

"There's so much more for me to experience in the next two and a half years before Paris, so at the moment, I'm just excited to see what the next chapter brings for me."

And Akbar is in good hands with the GB Boxing programme, as he said: "The GB set-up is world-renowned, and when we go to tournaments, people from other countries are always talking about GB Boxing.

"We did second-best as a country in the Olympics, with six medals, and only Cuba got more.

"Overall the programme is going really well, and we won a lot more medals in Tokyo in boxing than in many other sports."

It is all a far cry from his start in boxing.

Asked if the skill was passed down to him, Akbar laughed: "Not really, because my dad's actually a butcher.

"I didn't start out as a boxer, I used to do karate and judo as a kid, but my dad was always really proud of me, and he used to hang my belts and medals up on the walls of his shop.

"One day my karate coach came into the butcher's, saw all my medals on the wall, and asked my dad if I'd thought of trying boxing.

"I'd always loved contact sports like karate and judo, but I wasn't very good at boxing to start with.

"It's just that I've grown to love it and get better at it."