Armenia to host women boxing championship for the first time

PanARMENIAN.Net -
Armenian Boxing Championship in Yerevan will for the first time host women boxers.



As Armenian Boxing Federation secretary general Lyova Hovhannesyan told PanARMENIAN.Net reporter, the federation plans to develop women’s boxing in Armenia. “This time, the championship will feature 7 women participants in 3 weight categories,” he noted.



Haykanush Nazaretyan and Taguhi Hovakimyan will compete on January 30 in 54 kg. weight category. The winner will rival Kristine Martirosyan in tournament finals.



Ashkhen Simonyan and Anna Hovhannesyan will be competing in 75kg. weight category.



Women's boxing first appeared in the Olympic Games at a demonstration bout in 1904. For most of the 20th century, however, it was banned in most nations. Its revival was pioneered by the Swedish Amateur Boxing Association, which sanctioned events for women in 1988. The British Amateur Boxing Association sanctioned its first boxing competition for women in 1997. The first event was to be between two thirteen-year-olds, but one of the boxers withdrew because of hostile media attention. Four weeks later, an event was held between two sixteen-year-olds. The A.I.B.A. accepted new rules for Women's Boxing at the end of the 20th century and approved the first European Cup for Women in 1999 and the first World Championship for women in 2001 in Scranton, PA. Women's boxing was not featured at the 2008 Olympics; however, on 14 August 2009, it was announced that the International Olympic Committee’s Executive Board (EB) had approved the inclusion of women’s boxing for the Games in London in the 2012 Olympics, contrary to the expectations of some observers. Although women fought professionally in many countries, in the United Kingdom the B.B.B.C. refused to issue licences to women until 1998. By the end of the century, however, they had issued five such licenses. The first sanctioned bout between women was in November 1998 at Streatham in London, between Jane Couch and Simona Lukic.