IOC say yes to women boxers

The profile of women's boxing received a huge boost here on Thursday when International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge announced that it would be an Olympic sport at the 2012 Games in London.

Rogge, a former boxing doctor, is a strong advocate of women's boxing and his desire was rubber-stamped by the IOC Executive Board at their meeting on Thursday. Women's boxing, which first came to prominence in England in 1720, appeared as a demonstration sport at the 1904 Olympics but did not reappear on the radar until a vain attempt to have it introduced back into the Games failed in 2005.

The arrival of women's boxing at the 2012 Games will signal a reduction in the number of men's boxing categories.

AFP