With the Women’s World Championships 2022 starting on Sunday in Istanbul, we look back at the history of the biennial boxing competition, held since 2001 till the outbreak of Covid-19 forced the postponement of the 2021 edition.
The first AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships took place in 2001 in Scranton, USA, with 125 boxers from 30 countries. This was path-breaking because women boxers were not allowed to compete at the Olympics till the 2012 London Games.
In the last 20 years, the championships have been hosted by Antalya, Podolsk, New Delhi, Ningbo, Bridgetown, Qinhuangdao, Jeju, Astana and Ulan-Ude.
Since the first edition, more than 100 countries have taken part in the competitions, with 47 of these winning at least one medal between 2001 and 2019.
Russia has won the most medals, including 24 gold medals. China, India, DPR Korea, the United States of America, Canada, Turkey, Ireland, Kazakhstan and Italy are the remaining nations in the Top 10.
Chinese Taipei and Germany claimed their first gold medals at the New Delhi championships in 2018. Chinese Taipei won another two golds at Ulan-Ude in 2019, showing the success of their boxing programme.
Colombia, Mongolia and Wales joined the medallists as the 43rd, 44th and 45th countries in 2018. After its bronze in 2018, Wales claimed its first-ever gold medal in 2019. Morocco and Vietnam were the new medallist nations in the 2019 edition, both winning bronze medals in Ulan-Ude.
The 2022 championships will be held in Istanbul from May 8-20, with 93 countries registered to compete.
Overall Medal Tally in the AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships 2001-2019
| Countries | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1. Russia | 24 | 11 | 25 | 60 |
| 2. China | 18 | 15 | 17 | 50 |
| 3. India | 9 | 8 | 19 | 36 |
| 4. DPR Korea | 8 | 7 | 10 | 25 |
| 5. USA | 7 | 9 | 22 | 38 |
| 6. Canada | 7 | 2 | 17 | 26 |
| 7. Turkey | 6 | 8 | 14 | 28 |
| 8. Ireland | 6 | 1 | 1 | 8 |
| 9. Kazakhstan | 5 | 4 | 9 | 18 |
| 10. Italy | 4 | 4 | 3 | 11 |
| 11. France | 4 | 3 | 4 | 11 |
| 12. Ukraine | 3 | 7 | 10 | 20 |
| 13. Hungary | 3 | 5 | 11 | 19 |
| 14. Sweden | 3 | 2 | 6 | 11 |
| 15. Chinese Taipei | 3 | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| 16. England | 2 | 6 | 5 | 13 |
| 17. Philippines | 2 | 2 | 7 | 11 |
| 18. Brazil | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| 19. Romania | 1 | 4 | 8 | 13 |
| 20. Poland | 1 | 3 | 6 | 10 |
| 21. Bulgaria | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| 22. Belarus | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 23. Germany | 1 | – | 2 | 3 |
| 24. Wales | 1 | – | 1 | 2 |
| 25. Panama | 1 | – | – | 1 |
| 26. Netherlands | – | 3 | 4 | 7 |
| 27. Norway | – | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| 28. Thailand | – | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| 29. Argentina | – | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| 30. Azerbaijan | – | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 31. Denmark | – | 1 | 5 | 6 |
| 32. Australia | – | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 33. Greece | – | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 34. Colombia | – | 1 | – | 1 |
| 35. Jamaica | – | 1 | – | 1 |
| 36. Switzerland | – | 1 | – | 1 |
| 37. Finland | – | – | 4 | 4 |
| 38. Japan | – | – | 3 | 3 |
| 39. Egypt | – | – | 2 | 2 |
| 40. South Korea | – | – | 2 | 2 |
| 41. Moldova | – | – | 1 | 1 |
| 42. Mongolia | – | – | 1 | 1 |
| 43. Morocco | – | – | 1 | 1 |
| 44. New Zealand | – | – | 1 | 1 |
| 45. Tajikistan | – | – | 1 | 1 |
| 46. Tunisia | – | – | 1 | 1 |
| 47. Vietnam | – | – | 1 | 1 |
