Cuba continues to be Caribbean torchbearers in Olympic boxing

BOXING IS one of the most popular sports at the Olympic Games, and 249 boxers- 125 male and 124 female divided into seven male and six female weight classes - will vie for medals in Paris, France, starting on Saturday, July 27, and ending on Saturday, August 10. The boxers will represent 67 National Olympic Committees and the Refugee Olympic team, which is drawn from athletes who are refugees in other countries.

Four medals will be awarded in each weight class - one gold, one silver and two bronze - as there is no box-off for third place. The preliminary bouts will take place at the Arena Paris Nord from July 27 to August 4, and action will then shift to the Roland Garros Stadium from August 6 to August 10.

More than 2,000 boxers took part in the qualification series to earn the right to get to Paris for the final competition. There were Continental championships in Europe, Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas, followed by two World Qualification tournaments in Italy and Thailand. Jamaica sent two boxers, welterweight Tevoy Barrett and lightweight Sanji Williams to the qualifier in Bangkok, Thailand, but they both lost in the second round of competition by way of split decisions.

No boxers from the English -peaking Caribbean qualified for the Games. The Americas will, therefore, be represented by boxers from Brazil, Canada, Cuba, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Haiti, Mexico, Puerto Rico, the United States, and Venezuela. Haiti secured a place in the tournament, by way of a Universality award. The allocation is made from time to time to nations who are underrepresented in the Olympic Games by the Olympic Games Tripartite Commission.

Australia was the country to qualify the most boxers and will be sending 12 - six male and six female - boxers to France. Uzbekistan is next with 11, seven men and four women. Kazakhstan, seven men and three women; Ireland, four men and six women; and Brazil, five men and five women, are next with 10 qualifiers. The US will be sending eight boxers, three men and five women, while Cuba, who have been a boxing powerhouse for many years, will send five men. Cuban women have only recently been allowed to compete in boxing, and none of their female boxers qualified.

The medal table in boxing over the years has been dominated by the US, who have won a total of 117 medals, 50 of which have been gold. Cuba is next with 78 medals, 41 gold, and Great Britain, 62 with 20 gold. Other countries have become very competitive in recent Games, however, and an extremely close battle for medals is expected this year.