COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. – Three United States boxers have advanced to the medal round at the 2006 Women’s World Championships in New Delhi, India. Light flyweight Marlen Esparza (Houston, Texas); light middleweight Akima Stocks (S. Orange, N.J.); and Tika Hemingway (Pittsburgh, Pa.) will all compete in semifinal competition.

Esparza entered the international scene with a preliminary round win over G. Basibutun of Turkey in her first-ever world championships bout on Sunday. The 17-year-old pulled out a one-point decision over Basibutun to earn the first victory of the tournament for her United States team.

Stocks defeated Se-Yeon Kim of Korea in her preliminary contest to join Esparza in semifinal competition on Monday. Hemingway’s draw put her directly into the semifinal round with her United States teammates.

Light welterweight Elizabeth Quevedo (Commerce, Calif.) won her first bout of the competition, defeating Kelly Woolrich of New Zealand by a 27-14 margin in the first round of action. She was eliminated on Tuesday with a quarterfinal loss. Light bantamweight Sacred Downing (Trenton, N.J.) lost to Ukraine’s V. Rudenko in Monday’s first round action.
Over 180 boxers from 32 countries are competing in the fourth Women's World Championships, November 18-23 in New Delhi.

Marlen Esparza entered the tournament as the youngest member on the USA team at only seventeen years of age, and as one of the youngest fighters in the tournament period.  Marlen is one of only three fighters left from the USA team in the tournament, but that has not stopped the seventeen year old from Houston, TX on her focus on being the first ever women from the united states to win a gold medal in a world tournament.