AIBA adds 3 new weight categories to men’s competition, 2 in women

AIBA adds 3 new weight categories to men’s competition, 2 in women

The International Boxing Association (AIBA) has decided to add three weight categories for men and two for women in its competitions from August this year, saying that it will allow a greater pool of boxers to fight in divisions they feel “most strong and comfortable” in.

From the current 10, the men’s weight categories have now gone up to 13 with the minimum weight reduced to 48kg from the current 49kg.

The featherweight (57kg) has been added back to the fold along with the addition of light middleweight (71kg) and the cruiserweight (86kg).

The bantamweight has been brought back to 54kg from current 56kg.

The women’s divisions have gone up from 10 to 12 with the addition of light flyweight at 50kg and light middleweight at 70kg.

The decision was taken after “widespread consultation of stakeholders”, including the Competition Committee, the Women’s Committee, and the national federations.

Currently, the Olympic Games has men’s boxing in eight weight divisions (52kg, 57kg, 63kg, 69kg, 75kg, 81kg, 91kg, +91kg) and the women’s competition in five categories (51kg, 60kg, 64kg, 69kg and 75kg).

Also in a bid to increase transparency in judging, AIBA has increased the number of reviews allowed to participating teams in its competitions and also waived off the $1,000 fee that was being charged for failed challenges.

The number of reviews per team have been increased from two to three.

Under the system, the team manager or the head coach of the losing boxer gets 15 minutes after the decision is announced to submit a protest and complete the paperwork for it in the next 30 minutes.

All decisions, except for knockouts, abandonments and disqualifications, can be challenged in the system.

(Source : The Pioneer)