{"id":521805,"date":"2022-12-06T04:37:48","date_gmt":"2022-12-06T01:37:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/boxing-powerhouse-cuba-lets-women-boxers-compete\/"},"modified":"2022-12-06T04:37:48","modified_gmt":"2022-12-06T01:37:48","slug":"boxing-powerhouse-cuba-lets-women-boxers-compete","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/boxing-powerhouse-cuba-lets-women-boxers-compete\/","title":{"rendered":"#Boxing powerhouse Cuba lets women boxers compete"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a34d5277bfde\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a34d5277bfde\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/boxing-powerhouse-cuba-lets-women-boxers-compete\/#Boxing_powerhouse_Cuba_lets_women_boxers_compete\" >Boxing powerhouse Cuba lets women boxers compete<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Boxing_powerhouse_Cuba_lets_women_boxers_compete\"><\/span>Boxing powerhouse Cuba lets women boxers compete<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<div>HAVANA (AP) \u2014 Legnis Cala Mass\u00f3 carefully removes her necklace and smiles as her coach slides her bright red boxing gloves over her French tip nails.<\/p>\n<p>The 31-year-old swings her wiry body into the ring and pounds her fellow boxer \u2013 also a young woman \u2013 with a <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/watch-movies-tv-seriess\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"8\" title=\"Watch Movies &amp; TV Series\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">series<\/a> of punches, just as she&#8217;s done countless times before.<\/p>\n<p>Today is a day she\u2019s been waiting for since she started to box seven years ago.<\/p>\n<p>Cuban officials announced Monday that women boxers would be able to compete officially after decades of restrictions, though they didn&#8217;t yet confirm if that would be taken to a professional level like it was with Cuban male boxers earlier this year.<\/p>\n<p>Still, it sparked excitement in women like Cala Mass\u00f3 who have spent years <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/d4eab1cd8f204d66b6842fb39747c775\" data-ylk=\"slk:fighting to be recognized\" class=\"link rapid-noclick-resp\">fighting to be recognized<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSaying that boxing is not for Cuban women \u2013 that\u2019s always been the problem,\u201d she said, leaning on the side of a blue boxing ring in downtown Havana. \u201cWhere we are now, we never thought we would get here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Cuba is known worldwide for boxing, home to many legendary male boxers \u2013 among them F\u00e9lix Sav\u00f3n, Te\u00f3filo Stevenson and Julio C\u00e9sar La Cruz \u2013 and owner of a dozens of Olympic medals in the sport.<\/p>\n<p>But the island has also sparked controversy by not allowing women to compete, despite permitting them to do so in other contact sports like taekwondo and wrestling.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps most notably in 2009, the former head coach of Cuba\u2019s men\u2019s team Pedro Roque told a group of journalists that \u201cCuban women are there to show their beautiful faces, not to take punches.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It was a sentiment Cala Mass\u00f3 and other women who have embraced the sport have rejected as they\u2019ve sought to change the rules.<\/p>\n<p>Cala Mass\u00f3 began boxing in Havana with just one other women, spending long hours training despite being turned away by many coaches and boxing rings. With time, interest in boxing among women has only grown.<\/p>\n<p>On Monday morning, officials with Cuba\u2019s National Institute for Sports, INDER, announced in a press conference that they would hold a competition of 42 women boxers in mid-December to choose 12 athletes for a women\u2019s team.<\/p>\n<p>The team, they said, will compete in the Central American and Caribbean <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/game\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"7\" title=\"Game\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Game<\/a>s in El Salvador, their first international debut. The competition will be a first step toward the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. Women were first allowed to box in the Olympics in 2012.<\/p>\n<p>Cala Mass\u00f3, who now trains with five other women, hopes the decision means their community will only grow.<\/p>\n<p>The announcement comes shortly after Cuban boxers made a comeback in May in Mexico, with male boxers competing professionally \u2013 and getting paid \u2013 for the first time since the communist government prohibited professional sports 60 years ago. It was a big change in a country where athletes, namely boxers and baseball players, regularly leave for paychecks elsewhere.<\/p>\n<p>Down the line, once the team is built, those women could also potentially compete in a professional capacity, INDER officials said.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, they said Cuban women boxers will be able to train in state sports centers starting in January.<\/p>\n<p>Emilia Rebecca Hern\u00e1ndez, of INDER, said that the changes would make it so \u201cCuban women athletes can move up to the place where they belong \u2013 right next to men.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Yet Hern\u00e1ndez, who spoke only briefly, was the only woman on a panel of male officials who said their delay in allowing women to practice the sport was because they had to investigate \u201cthe risks that women could run.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Women will wear additional padding, they said.<\/p>\n<p>Yet for 22-year-old Giselle Bello Garcia, who boxed alongside Cala Mass\u00f3 after having only started boxing one year earlier for exercise, said the <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">news<\/a> offers them a chance to show what they\u2019re made of.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have a new hope for life, because my life has changed. From now on, I\u2019m going to focus solely on boxing,\u201d she said. \u201cI want my whole life, up until my death, to be connected to boxing.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have to be the best,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>Havana correspondent Andrea Rodr\u00edguez contributed to this report.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more News articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aol.com\/news\/boxing-powerhouse-cuba-approves-womens-013748758.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Boxing powerhouse Cuba lets women boxers compete HAVANA (AP) \u2014 Legnis Cala Mass\u00f3 carefully removes her necklace and smiles as her coach slides her bright red boxing gloves over her French tip nails. The 31-year-old swings her wiry body into the ring and pounds her fellow boxer \u2013 also a young woman \u2013 with a&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":521806,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/61PNBWM.Ht6tJDaUolKvIA--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyMDA7aD03NTg-\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/ap.org\/f08248d91eb65c9b5ba268fcab8899ef","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-521805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=521805"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521805\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/521806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=521805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=521805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=521805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}