Sat, Feb 11 2012

Female boxing becomes an Olympic sport

Fri, Aug 14 2009 15:28 CET

byThe Sofia Echo staff

3154 Views 1 Comment
Female boxing becomes an Olympic sport

Photo: Viktor Korotayev

Female boxers have been given the right to compete for a gold Olympic medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) voted on August 13 2009 to lift the barrier to the last all-male summer sport, the BBC said on its website on August 14 2009.

Three women's weight classes will be added to the Olympic programme for the 2012 Games in London, with one of the 11 men's classes dropped to make room, the BBC said.

"Women's boxing has come on a tremendous amount in the past five years and it was time to include them," IOC president Jacques Rogge was quoted by the BBC.

Women will fight at flyweight (48-51kg), lightweight (56-60kg) and middleweight (69-75kg) levels

Women's boxing came close to being included at the 2008 Beijing Games but the IOC ruled it would not offer added value to the Olympic programme, the BBC said.

According to the BBC, fears were that the sport was not competitive in enough countries, which could lead to potentially dangerous mismatches.

But participation has now boomed and 120 international federations have female boxers.

"There are now nearly 600 registered female boxers in England, up from 50 in 2005," the BBC said.

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Comments

Anonymous Ed Sat, Aug 15 2009 14:56 CET
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Great news
Katit Taylor of Ireland (who I met in Sofia) has a great chance of winning Gold


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