2012 OLYMPICS: WOMEN?S BOXING WILL DEBUT IN LONDON
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 04 Jun 2012
Boxing has been included as an event in every Summer Olympic Games since it was first introduced at the 1904 Olympics at St. Louis, USA. It was always an all-male event as boxing was always considered as a sport for men. Since then, it was not included only in the 1912 Stockholm Olympics because Swedish law banned the sport.
With the fast-growing popularity of female pugilists, women?s boxing will be contested during the 2012 London Olympics which will take place on July 28-August 12. Expected to participate are 36 women boxers. This will also mark the first time that all Olympic events will now be played for both men and women.
The 10 men's boxing events at London will now be joined by three women's events: women's flyweight (51 kg.), women's middleweight (60 kg.), and women's lightweight (75 kg.). The male bouts are fought over three three-minute rounds while the female bouts are competed over four two-minute rounds.
The fighter who knocks out an opponent or who scores the most points wins the bout. Boxers score a point for every punch they land with the marked part of their glove on their opponent?s head or upper body. Three of the five judges should press the electronic buttons within a second of each other for the boxer to be awarded a point. A boxer who scores more than 12 points ahead of a foe automatically wins a fight.
The recently concluded 7th edition of the Women's World Boxing Championships crowned ten world champions in Qinhuangdao, China and ushered in a new age for women?s boxing. The quality of competition was an all-time high in the global tournament and it marked an amazing moment in the history of the sport of boxing gearing towards gender equality.
It was Ireland's national icon, Katie Taylor, who stole the show when she was awarded the best boxer trophy and became the newly crowned four-time women?s world champion. Host China won three gold medals in front of the cheering countrymen and emerged overall champion in the medal chart. Flyweight champion Ren Cancan was their top boxer when she garnered her third world championship in impressive fashion together with heavyweight gold medalist Li Yunfei and 19-year-old Yuan Meiqing, the youngest champion in the tournament.
Great Britain?s Savannah Marshall, a silver medalist at the last edition of the championships, snatched the gold this time in the middleweight division. As host country, Britain will have an entry in each of the three Olympic weight categories.
Filipina Josie Gabuco made history for our country after becoming the first Filipino amateur boxer to be crowned world champion. Not even our male boxers have won the world championships in the past. Harry Ta?amor and Roel Velasco just settled for the silver medals in 2007 in Chicago and in 1997 in Budapest. But unfortunately her light-flyweight (48 kg.) category was not included in the 2012 Olympics.
Note: This will be the first of a series of articles for the 2012 London Olympic Games.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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