Barbados will be the “home” for the 2010 Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA) Women’s Championships.

This disclosure has come from Minister of Sports, Dr. Esther Byer Suckoo, who said today that the country had been successful in its bid to host the Sixth International Amateur Boxing Association’s Women’s Championships which will be held from September 9 to 19, 2010.

An excited Dr. Byer Suckoo stated: “Our bid meeting this morning went well and the members of the Executive Committee were impressed with our presentation. They said it was very well done.”

The Minister of Sports led a five-member delegation over the weekend to AIBA’s three-day Executive Committee meeting in Milan, Italy, where she officially presented Barbados’ proposal. The other members of the group are President of the National Anti-Doping Commission and representative of the Barbados Olympic Association, Dr. Adrian Lorde; Winston Carter of the Barbados Tourism Authority; Vice President of the Amateur Boxing Association of Barbados, Vincent Carter; and board member of the National Sports Council, Andrew Sealy.

Some 400 athletes from over 40 countries are expected to converge here for the boxing championships and the Minister pointed out that next year’s event “is expected to be bigger and more accessible” to athletes from Latin America and the United States of America.

She noted that this was the first time the championships would be held in the Caribbean and that it “will mean a lot for Barbados and the region”. She added that an increasing number of females were expressing interest in boxing and she hoped it would continue to grow, especially since the island received the nod to stage the event.

About 42 countries competed in the fifth championships in China in 2008. Women’s boxing was officially accepted under AIBA in 1994, and over 120 countries are involved in the sport, which currently attracts several women.

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