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Journalism of Courage
MUMBAI, November 20: Australian sports ministers today rejected a plan to ban children under 14 from competitive boxing, arguing such a ban would be impossible to enforce and was also unnecessary.
The move to ban child boxing followed heated debate in Australia this week after girls as young as 11 were allowed to compete at the National Amateur Boxing Championships.
Australia’s national sports minister Jackie Kelly rejected the proposed ban, suggested by a state sports minister, arguing it would only outlaw official competition two minute rounds and not the hours of boxing during gymnasium sparring sessions.
Kelly said Australia’s National Boxing Associations were better placed to ensure the safety of athletes. “The national sporting organisations are the ones with the most effective control of how athletes are trained, the rules by which they abide and the medical conditions and requirement of any participation in sport,” Kelly said.
“They will enforce a structure in sport far better than anylegislation, that needs to be enforced by police, will ever do.” Kelly said the meeting of five sports ministers had instead agreed to launch a review into combat sports regulation aimed at uniform safeguards for children participating in those sports.
In the review, modified rules and age restrictions would be considered for amateur boxing, Kelly said. “It is a legitimate sport and we are not talking about a total banning of sport,” she added.
