Remaining Olympic quota places ready to be decided in Tuesday’s dramatic 2016 Women’s World Championship Quarter-Finals
May 24th, 2016 / IBA, Astana 2016
As the 2016 AIBA Women’s World Championships reach the Quarter-Final stages, for the three Olympic classes of flyweight, lightweight and middleweight, Tuesday evening’s bouts will assume a huge added significance. For the 24 boxers in action, a place in the semi-finals will also guarantee them a quota place for Rio 2016.
At flyweight, Germany’s Azize Nimani will earn a surprise Olympic spot if she can beat Kazakhstan’s impressive Zhaina Shekerbekova, while Sarah Ourahmoune of France will have to defeat China’s three-time World Champion Ren Cancan, already bound for Rio, to secure herself a quota place. The winner of the bout between Sandra Drabik and Peamwilai Laopeam will be heading for the Games, while Chinese Taipei’s Yu-Ting Lin will need to beat Nicola Adams to qualify, or hope Ren Cancan progresses, liberating one more space for their continent. The British star may have her Olympic place assured, but Adams will instead be driven by her huge desire for a first World title.
Like Adams, Ireland’s Katie Taylor won Olympic gold in London four years ago, but the five-time World Lightweight Champion must beat Mexico’s surprise package Victoria Torres to be assured of a place in Rio. Estelle Mossely has to defeat the woman who halted Taylor in Samsun, Azeri Yana Alekseevna, if the French star is to join her opponent on the plane to Brazil, but a win for Alekseevna would see Taylor qualify, win or lose. Switzerland’s revelation Sandra Brugger takes on Finland’s Mira Potkonen, and a win for Russian Anastasiia Beliakova against Morocco’s Hasnaa Lachgar will see her qualify for Rio.
Wrapping up the session will be the middleweight Olympic hopefuls, including Britain’s Savannah Marshall who faces qualified Chinese talent Qian Li, while the Netherlands’ Nouchka Fontijn and her French opponent Erika Guerrier know this will be their last shot at a place in Rio. Finally on Tuesday, Chinese Taipei’s Nien-Chin Chen will need to beat Moroccan qualifier Khadija Mardi to be certain of a precious quota place. Should Li or Kazakhstan’s Violleta Knyazeva win, however, Chen will still receive that honour.
Tuesday’s afternoon session will see the light flyweight, bantamweight, featherweight, light welterweight, welterweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight Quarter-Finalists in action. Across the ten World Championship weights, a remarkable 29 nations remain in contention for at least one gold medal.
