SANTA ANA, CA--(LAB NEWS WIRE) – August 14, 2009 - Women’s boxing will make its Olympic debut at the 2012 London Games, giving all 26 sports on the program female and male competitors.
The International Olympic Committee added the event to the program on Thursday during a meeting of the executive board.
“It’s long overdue,” said Carl Kosnar, Managing Partner of The Kosnar Group, franchise development consultants for LA BOXING Franchise Corporation. IOC president Jacques Rogge added. “The sport of women’s boxing has progressed a lot, a tremendous amount, in the last five years. It was about time to include it in the Olympic Games.”
Female boxers will compete in three weight classes, with 12 competitors each in flyweight, lightweight and middleweight. To make room for the 36 boxers, one of the 11 men ’s classes will be dropped.
“We made an internal adjustment ... to keep the quota,” international boxing federation president C.K. Wu said. “This is a very important guideline by the IOC. (If) you want to increase the quota, it’s not easy.”
The IOC has a limit of 286 boxers in the Olympics, so only 250 men will be allowed to compete in London. Still, the men will fight for 10 medals while the women compete for three.
“There are still major disparities in the number of medals women can win compared to men but this is a step in the right direction,” British Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell said.
Like men ’s boxing, the women’s competition will be confined to amateurs.
“We don’t allow professionals,” said Wu, who added that the world championships would likely serve as the qualifying competition.
Four years ago, women ’s boxing was rejected as an Olympic sport for failing to reach standards of medical safety and universality.
“From the medical point of view, we’ve checked everything,” Rogge said. “There is no issue.”
Now that women ’s boxing is officially in, Wu is
already looking ahead to the future.
About LA BOXING Franchise Corporation
LA BOXING Franchise Corporation, a membership physical fitness
company consisting of unique professional boxing and kickboxing
training regimens which utilize a system and products that are
proprietary to LA Boxing, offers a turn-key franchise with the
franchisee and staff receiving full training and ongoing support.
The Company sources and trains membership salespeople in addition
to recruiting professional fighters as instructors for its
franchisees. LA BOXING has trained world champions and numerous
other professional fighters. However, the vast majority of
our members are women and men who are just interested in a cardio
workout and enjoying the benefits of our fitness-training
program.
Potential LA BOXING franchisees are required to
pay a $25,000 franchise fee which is included in the $180,400 to
$191,250 range of capital needed to get started. Location options
range from retail strip shopping centers to freestanding commercial
buildings. Absolutely no previous boxing, kickboxing, training, or
health and fitness experience is necessary to qualify for an LA
BOXING franchise.
