April 18 - China are to bid for the 2012 Women's World Boxing Championships, which is set to be a warm-up for when the sport makes its debut at the London Olympics later that year, they have announced.



C.K Wu, the President of the International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA), confirmed that China has expressed their interest to host the event and that AIBA will support the country's bid.

Chang Jianping, who heads China's boxing management centre, said that south China's Hainan Province will bid for the tournament.

"Hainan has submitted its intention to AIBA and it's preparting the materials for an official bid," Chang said.

The AIBA is due to decide the venue at a meeting in Morocco in July.

Women's boxing will become an official event in the 2012 London Olympic Games and will produce three gold medals.

The World Championships is expected to be held before March 2012.

China's Ningbo City staged the 2008 Women's World Championships where the host boxers won five of the 13 gold medals contested and they were joined on top of the podium by Ireland's Katie Taylor and India's Mary Kom and England's Nicola Adams won a silver.

This year's event is due to be staged in Barbados.


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