A historic day in London Town as women's boxing 'arrives'
after a 108 years wait
by Michael O'Neill
A fascinating day’s
boxing in prospect as women's boxing is admitted to the Olympic
Games some 108 years after the men first took part in the 1904
Games in St Louis.
The good news for the AIBA is that all four days sessions have
“sold out” according to a spokesperson for the London Organising
Committee.
The honour of being the first women in the ring falls to
Russia’s Elena Savelyeva and Hye Song Kim of the Peoples
Republic of Korea.
So without further ado let us bring you Sunday’s historic
programme schedule.
All times are UK local times and approximate start times.
Women’s Fly (51kg):
13:30 Elena Savelyeva (RUS) vs Hye Song KIM (PRK)
13:45 Erica MATOS (BRA) vs Karlha MAGLIOCCO (VEN)
14:00 Karolina MICHALCZUK (POL) vs Mery Kom (IND)
14:15 Stoyka PETROVA (BUL) vs Siona FERNANDES (NZL)
Women's Light (60kg)
14:30 Queen UNDERWOOD (USA) vs Natasha JONAS (GBR)
14:45 Mihaela LACATUS (ROU) vs Cheng DONG (CHN)
15:00 Adriana ARAUJO (BRA) vs Saida KHASSENOVA (KAZ)
15:15 Alexis PRITCHARD (NZL) vs Rim JOUINI (TUN)
Women's Middle (75kg)
15:30 Marina VOLNOVA (KAZ) vs Elizabeth ANDIEGO (KEN)
15:45 Anna LAURELL (SWE) vs Naomi-Lee FISCHER-RASMUSSEN . (AUS)
16:00 Roseli FEITOSA (BRA) vs Jinzi LI (CHI)
16:15 Elena VYSTROPOVA (AZE) vs Edith OGOKE (NGR)
Some tough ones to call that is for sure and none more so than
the bouts involving India’s five times world champion Mery Kom
and Poland’s Karolina Michalczuk at 51kg and the 60kg contest
between Queen Underwood of the United States and Great Britain’s
Natasha Jonas.
On current form India’s great hope, Mery Kom might just shade
the decision against the tough Polish fighter but it will be
close.
Even more fascinating is the battle between Jonas from the
Rotunda club in Liverpool and Seattle’s Queen Underwood. This
should be the ‘bout of the day’ and the winner can ‘look
forward’ to an even tougher encounter on Monday against
Ireland’s 4 times World, 5 times European champion Katie Taylor.
I saw Jonas win at the same venue in last year’s Olympic Test
event and with a raucous home crowd supporting her as they have
done the GB men so far this week, it will be exceptionally
difficult for Underwood. She is still quietly confident of
winning gold here but it will be a ‘minor upset’ if she wins
here. To many neutral observers
Underwood is not showing the kind of form that she displayed in
that epic 2010 World championship semi-final when she all but
upset the odds against Taylor in Barbados.
In the day’s other bouts at 51kg I expect to see Matos and
Petrova move forward at 51kg whilst Cheng Dong, and Adriana
Araujo should win their 60 kg contests against Mihaela Lacatus
and Saida Khassenova. Lacatus appears to have fully recovered
from the injury that caused her to withdraw from the world
quarter final against Taylor.
New Zealander Pritchard and Jouini from Tunisia are relatively
unknowns in this division and are not expected to cause any
later upsets, whoever wins Sunday – Pritchard may just about
shade it here.
Volnova is tipped to win the first of the 75kg contests against
Andiego whilst Anna Laurell, if at or near her best, would be
expected to defeat Fischer-Rasmussen.
China’s Jinzi Li and Brazil’s Roseli Feitosa meet in the day’s
penultimate bout with a narrow win for the Brazilian forecast
whilst it will be a major upset if Edith Ogoke were to move
forward at the expense of Azerbaijan’s Elena Vystropova.
