By Ronnie Nathanielsz
In a performance that would do their male counterparts proud, two Filipino women have barged into the semi finals of the highly competitive International Amateur Boxing Association’s (AIBA’s) 3rd Women’ World Boxing Championships in Podolsk, Russia.
Gretchen Abaniel reached the semi finals by pounding out a 33-28 points win over tough Aktop Dena of Turkey in the 46 kilogram weight category while Michel Martinez scored a narrow 19-17 win over Cuni Teuta of Sweden after earlier defeating Australia’s Erin McGowan handily, 39-22.
Martinez, a 23 year old policewoman won the gold medal in the recent Asian Women's Championships in Kaohsiung, Taiwan when she outclassed India's Pranamika Borah forcing the referee to stop the bout in the second round. Abaniel won the silver after being beaten by another Indian girl in the finals.
The chair of the Women’s Boxing Sub-Commission Sandy Martinez-Pino in her opening remarks declared that “women compete in a much more scientific way. Power is not the most important, but points” adding that in women’s boxing we can “see more nations winning bouts that would, in men’s boxing, never win.”
Under the AIBA rules women box three, two minute rounds instead of four, unlike the men who fight four, two minute rounds. A referee is also allowed to stop the contest if one boxer is substantially ahead on points, 15, unlike the men which is 20.
Women are also divided into 13 weight classes instead of the 11 in men and there are more classifications in the lower weights which begin at 43 kilograms. As expected, women have the obligation to submit a written statement that they are not pregnant at the time of the competition.
