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Philippines, 19 May 2024 |
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China At Forefront Of Women's Boxing By Zhenyu Li PhilBoxing.com Sun, 26 Sep 2010  After having a decent run in the 6th AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships in Barbados, the Chinese national women's boxing team returned to Beijing earlier this week with flying colors, leading the pack in medal tally with one gold, three silvers and three bronzes. The traditional boxing powerhouse Russia took home two golds and one silver. The other seven gold medals were shared by seven countries, namely India, Ireland, USA, Canada, Turkey, Brazil and North Korea. The homeland of Manny Pacquiao bagged one bronze. Alice Aparri was the one who accomplished this feat. She earned the bronze medal spot by beating Anusha Kodithuwakku of Sri Lanka in the light flyweight quarterfinals before losing to the mighty Mary Kom of India who went on to become the only five-time world champion. This edition of the Women's World Boxing Championships was highly regarded by the participating countries, for it is the first Worlds since women's boxing was approved as an official Olympic sport. The Barbados 2010 saw a record high of 306 fighters from 75 countries and regions taking part in the competition. The second largest is the 2008 edition, with 237 combatants from 42 nations participating. Further more, this journalist was told by reliable sources that over 25 countries have set their eyes on the Olympic medals and international kudos women's boxing is in a position to produce and ramped up their investment in the sport. Such traditional powerhouses as Russia, USA, England and India dispatched their best troops. The competitions were especially fierce at flyweight, lightweight and middleweight since they are the only three recognized weight classes in the 2012 Olympic women's boxing event. China was at the forefront of the game, clinching one gold and two silvers from the three aforementioned Olympic divisions. In the flyweight final, China's reigning champion Cancan Ren made Chinese history, becoming the nation's first two-time women's world champion. She claimed her second consecutive title by outclassing the 2008 Worlds bantamweight runner-up Nicola Adams from England with a score of 10-5. Trailing by one point at the end of the first stanza, Ren rallied to gain a 3-2 lead in the second, drawing the score at 4-4 by the halfway point of the fight. Ren's clear edge in footwork, quickness and effectiveness was beautifully shown in the third round as she pulled off a lopsided 4-1 win. She kept the momentum going, winning 2-0 in the fourth. The lightweight showdown was between China's 2008 Worlds silver medalist Cheng Dong and Irish two-time world champion Katie Taylor. The Chinese finished runner-up for the second time who got swept up with a score of 5-18 in the 60kg final when facing her Irish old foe that beat her up 13-2 in the 2008 Women's World Boxing Championships final. Taylor went on to add a third world title to her accolades. Middleweight, the third and last "Olympic division" pitted China's reigning champion Jinzi Li against Canada's two-time welterweight world champion Mary Spencer. Spencer started off strong, taking an imposing 6-1 lead in the opening round. The Chinese reigning champion tried to fight back but only ended up with a disappointing score of 1-2 in favor of her opponent in the second stanza. It was the Canadian six-time national champion who regrouped in the second half of the showdown prior to putting on a perfect 6-0 solo show in the last two rounds. The final decision was 14-2. Chuanliang Zhang, the head coach of the Chinese national women's boxing team told this journalist that basically he was satisfied with the contingent's overall performance at the 2010 Worlds. Although China's gold tally was not on par with that of the last installment, which saw the host nation totally dominate with five golds, two silvers and four bronzes, one cannot argue that China's female boxing has been on the decline. Other economic powers such as the United States, United Kingdom and Canada have geared up for the Olympic contention and their competitiveness has improved handsomely. The latest world meet was a clear indication that China and Russia lead the pack with other seven countries having equal shares. The Philippines need to tighten up its game and set a target of one Olympic medal in women's boxing. * * * As a Beijing-based bilingual sports and culture writer with the People's Daily in China, Zhenyu Li has covered a wide range of topics, including the international cultural exchange affairs, cultural creative industry and sports business, yet his main thrust is combat sport. A contributing columnist for such publications as SecondsOut.com (U.K.) and TheSweetScience.com (U.S.), Li is committed to bring the PhilBoxing.com boxing coverage of the best quality from China. Click here to view a list of other articles written by Zhenyu Li.  |
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