Russia’s female Olympic boxing hopefuls have started strongly at the world championships in China with Viktoria Gurkovich and Irina Poteeva winning their first bouts, the Russian Boxing Federation said Saturday.
The world championships doubles up as the qualification event for the London 2012 Olympics, where women will fight in the 51 kilogram flyweight, 60 kilogram lightweight and 75 kilogram middleweight classes, seven fewer categories than the men.
At the world championships, which boasts ten classes, Gurkovich stopped her Slovakian opponent Piroska Bodoki in the second round after knocking her down three times in their preliminary 57 kilogram bout.
Poteeva also earned a knockout win, defeating Serbia’s Marija Divjak in the second round of their 69 kilogram fight.
Russia is targeting one or two gold medals at the event in Qinhuangdao, national women’s team coach Viktor Lisitsyn told RIA Novosti last month.
Russian boxers are ranked in the world top 3 in four of the ten classes at the world championships.
