There should be an increase in women boxers at the 2016 Olympics in Rio after the success of the inaugural competition at the London Games,amateur boxing chief Dr Ching-Kuo Wu said today. The 65-year-old Taiwanese admitted that it was not realistic to expect all 10 categories to be contested in Brazil,but he said there were four years to go and he would lobby hard for an increase from the 36 who fought in London. All three categories were well-received by the 10,000 spectators with finals day on Thursday even resembling a fight at the National Stadium in Dublin as the arena was bedecked in Irish flags for Katie Taylor,who won lightweight gold. "I think the women's performances were magnificent," said Wu,whose lobbying paid off when the IOC Executive Board voted the sport on to the schedule in 2009. "IOC President Jacques Rogge was here for the women's finals and he was so impressed and happy to have brought it into the Games. He knows boxing because he was a ringside doctor and he finds it was the right decision. "Thirty-six fighters is not enough. We have 10 categories but to bring them all in is unrealistic. But we have to have more and we have four years to achieve that. "My most difficult task is to convince the AIBA board to reduce the men's categories. We are,however,extremely happy." Franco Falcinelli,AIBA senior technical delegate,said that the success of women's boxing had proved wrong all those who said it was a dangerous sport. "After around 260 bouts prior to the five finals there have been only three that have not run their full course," he said. "That statistic and the similar success in the women's competition shows boxing is not as dangerous as a sport as many portray it." Wu said that the use of headguards was still up for debate between AIBA's medical experts and the IOC Medical Commission. "We will analyse as we do after every major competition what happened here and then wait to see what the recommendations are in full co-operation with the IOC," he said. Re-evaluating the judges and referees will also feature after the Games,though AIBA chiefs were at pains to point out that there had been few contentious decisions with only one referee,from Turkmenistan,sent home after being found atfault. "I have been in this sport as an athlete and official for 38-years," said Pat Fiacco,the deputy technical delegate. "And I don't think anyone is intentionally cheating. Boxing is a very subjective sport and also when you are a judge you are not allowed to score a point if you don't see the punch land. "We have every official evaluated,a separate fully qualified evaluator sits behind and takes note of the judge's work. "Afterwards we analyse the data and performances. All the officials here are three star - the highest rating - but of course they can be stripped of a star if their performance receives a poor assessment," said the 50-year-old Canadian. Wu also ruled out calls from television companies for the return of running scores on the screen instead of the system he introduced of displaying them up after each round. "If the running scores are on the screen then everybody fixes their eyes on that and doesn't watch the competition. So what's the competition for?," he said. "Everyone also becomes a judge. So what are the judges for? "There were a lot of problems with it and a lot of concerns expressed by boxers and trainers who said the end of round scores were better."
