Women boxing eyed for 2012

GENEVA – Women’s boxing, mixed doubles in tennis and 50-meter sprints in swimming are among the events being considered this week for inclusion in the 2012 London Olympics.

The International Olympic Committee executive board will meet in Berlin on Thursday to consider a range of changes put forward by the 26 summer Olympic sports federations.

The board will also recommend two sports for inclusion in the 2016 Olympics, with golf and rugby sevens the favorites in a group that also includes baseball, softball, karate, squash and roller sports.

The 15-member board must weigh the demands against its stated goals of gender equality and universality – the opportunity for all nations to compete with a realistic chance of winning medals – while keeping within a limit of 10,500 athletes.

The most dramatic change for 2012 would be the introduction of women’s classes in boxing, currently the only summer Olympic sport exclusively for men.

“The thousands of female athletes who practice religiously and compete in national, intercontinental and international competition with the dream of one day, possibly, being able to celebrate the world’s greatest sporting occasion, deserve the opportunity,” said Richard Baker, spokesman for boxing’s governing body AIBA.

AIBA is proposing that 40 female boxers compete in London, with eight in each of five weight categories. They range from 47 kilograms (104 pounds), comparable to the men’s light flyweight class, up to 75 kilograms (165 pounds), equal to the men’s middleweights.

Men’s boxing would lose 40 places across 11 weights to keep the sport within its limit of 286 Olympic athletes.

IOC president Jacques Rogge has said the time is right for women’s boxing after the proposal was rejected four years ago after failing to reach standards of medical safety and universality. However, its approval is not a certainty, as some board members are not enthusiastic about adding women’s boxing. (AP)