The magnificent Barys Arena in Astana, capital city of Kazakhstan was the site of the 2016 AIBA Women’s World Championships from 19-27 May, where defending champions, Olympic gold medalists and emerging new talents produced the strongest competition in its 15 years of existence.
Ten World Champions have been crowned at the culmination of eight days of exciting competition, the ninth Women’s World Championships to date. As well as the gold medals, twelve Olympic quota places were also available to the semi-finalists at flyweight, lightweight and middleweight, completing the line-up for the Rio 2016 women’s boxing competition.
"Once again we have witnessed the remarkable development and healthy state of women’s boxing with another superlative World Championships. Congratulations to all the boxers who competed for being part of an outstanding tournament, and in particular the ten gold medallists. With every edition, the quality of boxing has improved alongside the organisation itself, and the Kazakhstan Boxing Federation has undoubtedly put on the best Women’s World Championships in the 15-year history of the competition," said AIBA Presidnt Dr Ching-Kuo Wu after the closing ceremony.
No fewer than thirteen countries were represented in the finals on 27 May, underlining the current global strength of the sport. Host nation Kazakhstan topped the final medals table with four golds and China claimed two, with France, Great Britain, Italy and USA all winning one gold apiece.
"Kazakhstan has a proud boxing history, and now the honour of hosting the Women’s World Championships can be added to that story. I would like to thank AIBA for placing their confidence in us as hosts and look forward to working closely with them in the future. The future of women’s boxing is looking stronger than ever specially in our country," said Mr Bekzhan Bektenov, Executive Director of the Kazakhstan Boxing Federation.
AIBA’s ongoing HeadsUp initiative continued in Astana in parallel to the competition, focusing on the education of boxers, coaches and support personnel. AIBA and the Kazakhstan Boxing Federation hosted a WADA seminar at the Kazakh National Anti-Doping Center, while Cutman practices and the latest wrapping techniques were the subject of workshops at the Barys Arena, where further research was also conducted into the use of headguards in the women’s sport.
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