Courtesy of www.aiba.net

The IOC Executive Board met on 27 October 2005 in the IOC Headquarters to discuss about the various request from International Federations for changes and/or additions to events/quotas of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

At 14:36 local time, the IOC officially announced that the request by the International Boxing Association “to introduce women’s boxing (4 weight categories/32 atheltes) has not been accepted by the Executive Board for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Nine other International Federations have seen their requests refused by the EB.

“It is a sad day for women in boxing and we are all heart broken” expressed a boxer right after the decision. Mr. Kelly Fairweather, IOC Sports Director explained that “this decision was purely taken on a technical basis as recommended by the Programme Commission. We look forward to seeing progress in women’s boxing over the next few years.”

The International Boxing Association takes this decision as a challenge to do its best to promote and communicate boxing.