Cuba approves women’s boxing with Paris Games in spotlight

Cuba gave the green light this Monday to the practice of women’s boxing with a goal set at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

This was confirmed by the vice president of the National Sports Institute (Inder), Ariel Sainz Rodríguez, and the head of the Cuban Boxing Federation (FCB), Alberto Puig de la Barca, in a press conference.

Sainz explained that the decision took into account “the country’s organizations and institutions, including the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC),” according to the official sports outlet Jit.

The strategy to promote women’s boxing will be divided into two phases. The first will culminate in the 2023 Central American and Caribbean Games in El Salvador, in what will be the international debut of the Cuban boxers, and, finally, the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024.

Puig de la Barca reported that Cuba will organize an internal selection tournament on December 16 and 17 with 48 female boxers, of which 12 will be chosen –two per category– to represent the island in San Salvador.

Sports authorities have announced that in November 2023 the first “women’s national event in the older Olympic categories” will take place.which makes registration conformation possible” for the Olympics.

The change announced Monday is part of a series of reforms accelerating this year in Cuban boxing. Last May, Cuba made his professional boxing debut at a show in Mexico after a six-decade ban.

Previously, in 2014, the insular fighters entered the semi-pro circuit.

Boxing is one of the sports disciplines that has brought the most joy in Cuba. This 2022 marks the 50th anniversary since, at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, the country achieved the first gold medals in this sport since the victory of the revolution in 1959.