The 23-year-old secured his third successive European Championships gold medal last month and was reportedly considering turning professional.

Fellow Rio 2016 Olympians Katie Taylor, Michael Conlan and Paddy Barnes have already stepped up from the amateur ranks.

However, the light-heavyweight had said he was hoping to gain financial backing to remain in the Irish Athletic Boxing Association's (IABA) high performance unit.

Sport Ireland's new high performance director Bernard Dunne has now granted Ward a financial package for the next three years that will enable him to remain amateur.

"I'm staying around," said Ward, according to the Irish Mirror.

"We sat down, Bernard and myself, and also my family, and I saw the vision he wants for this team and what I can bring.

"And I felt it would be the right decision for me to stay around until Tokyo.

"Now I'm focused on the World Championships in Hamburg, which is only six weeks away.

"I got selected as Ireland captain to lead this team onto Tokyo, it's a great honour for me and I think it will be great for me to stay around and show this team the way.

"There were a lot of negotiations between myself and the professionals."

Ward was eliminated in the round of 16 at Rio 2016 after beating on a split decision by Ecuador's Carlos Andrés Mina.

He was considered by many to be an Olympic medal contender at London 2012, but did not compete after his inclusion in the Games was rejected by the International Boxing Association (AIBA).

Ward was controversially beaten 18-15 by Turkey's Bahram Muzaffer in the final European Olympic qualifier in Trabzon, despite many observers suggesting that Ward won the bout.

The defeat meant that Ward was left to hope for a wildcard entry, but he proved unsuccessful in this bid.

Despite dominating continental competition in recent years, the Irishman will be hoping to win his first world title at this year's championships in Hamburg.

Ward won bronze in 2013 in Almaty and silver two years later in Doha.

It was revealed earlier this week that IABA had avoided sanctions from Sport Ireland after meeting a deadline to resolve outstanding governance issues. 

According to The Business Post, Sport Ireland had warned IABA that they needed to undergo serious reforms by a deadline of June 30 or risk losing around €1 million (£885,000/$1.1 million).

Following an agreement to implement a new rule book, which has been passed by the IABA Board, Sport Ireland were satisfied that the deadline had been met.