IOC to Rule on Women`s Boxing Inclusion for 2012

The IOC said it would consider the International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA) request.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will decide in August whether to include women's boxing in the 2012 London Olympics after a request by the sport's world governing body, the IOC said on Thursday.

The IOC said it would consider the International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA) request and make a recommendation to its executive board which is due to meet in Berlin.

"We indeed received recently a request from AIBA for Women's Boxing to be considered for inclusion in 2012," IOC spokeswoman Emmanuelle Moreau said.

"The programme commission will review this request and make a recommendation to the (IOC) executive board which is due to take decisions regarding the inclusion of events in August and regarding quotas in December," she said.

The introduction of women's boxing, rejected in the past because of what the IOC said was a limited global appeal, does not need an IOC session approval as the sport is already on the Olympic programme.

The AIBA made a similar request in 2005 but it was turned down as the IOC considered the women's event would not offer added value to the programme.

The sport was also required to improve the quality of its officials after several questionable decisions at the Athens 2004 Olympics prompted the IOC to withhold payments until such changes were approved.

The IOC has also been criticised for leaving out women's ski jumping from the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.