Asia upbeat on women's boxing debut

MANILA, Philippines - It’s all systems go for women’s boxing at the Asian Games in Guangzhou this November and the 2012 London Olympics. Gold medals in three divisions – flyweight (48-51 kilograms), lightweight (56-60) and middleweight (69-75) – will be up for grabs in the debut of women’s boxing in both the Asiad and the Olympics.

Recent Manila visitor Nieva Tesoro Embuldeniya, vice president of the AIBA (Association Internationale de Boxe) Women’s Commission and the only AIBA female executive committee member, said she expects Asian countries to show the way in the race for medals in London.

At the fifth World Women’s Boxing Championships in Ningbo City two years ago, host China topped the medal standings with five golds, two silvers and four bronzes. Three Asian countries finished in the top five among 17 of 42 participating countries that claimed medals. Aside from China, the others were fourth placer India and fifth placer North Korea.

The Philippines tied with Sweden and the US with a silver and two bronzes for 10th place. Bantamweight Annie Albania took the silver while pinweight Josie Gabuco and lightflyweight Analisa Cruz settled for bronzes to score for the Philippines. Albania dropped to flyweight and Gabuco stayed at pinweight in bagging gold medals at the recent Laos Southeast Asian Games.

Embuldeniya said AIBA will hold a high-level executive committee meeting in Xiamen starting today up to Saturday to decide the format of Olympic qualifiers, new rules and other urgent matters.

The sixth World Women’s Boxing Championships will be staged in Brighton, Barbados, on Sept. 10-18 but will not be an Olympic qualifying event. Among those competing will be four-time world lightweight champion Katie Taylor of Ireland, four-time world pinweight queen Mary Kom of India and two-time world titlists Mary Spencer of Canada, Arianne Fortin of Canada and Anna Laurell of Sweden.

“We’re two years away from the Olympics so the World Championships in September will not be a qualifying competition,” said Embuldeniya. “It’s possible that the next World Championships in early 2012 will be the Olympic qualifiers. It’s not likely that AIBA will set up continental qualifiers because some regions are not competitive.”

Africa and Oceania are not known for competitive female boxers. Instead of continental qualifiers, which are held for men’s boxing, the World Championships could be the main stage for Olympic aspirants.

In London, there will be 12 slots available for each of the three women’s divisions, making a total of 36 fighters. To make room for the female boxers, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) scaled down the men’s divisions from 11 to 10, removing the 48-kilogram lightflyweight category from where the Philippines has collected a silver and two bronzes. The limit for male and female fighters is 286 so there will be 250 slots for men.

In Guangzhou, the initial number of gold medals for boxing was 11, corresponding to 11 weight divisions for men. But with the introduction of three women’s categories, the expectation is the gold medals at stake will increase to 14. The presumption is the Asian Games will keep the lightflyweight class for men.

Embuldeniya, who is based in Sri Lanka with her husband and former AIBA executive committee member Herbert, said Asian countries unsuccessful in capturing an Olympic gold in men’s boxing are now turning their attention on female fighters as medal bets. The Philippines and Sri Lanka are prime examples.

To prepare for the Asian Games, Embuldeniya said the region’s crack female fighters will see action at the Asian Women’s Boxing Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan, in late May or early June.

Guangzhou organizing committee executive deputy director Li Xiaofeng confirmed last week the introduction of women’s boxing at the Asian Games on Nov. 12-27.