(COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO.) – The United States’ top female boxers will compete in their first international event of the year at the 2009 Women’s Continental Championships, October 5-8 in Guayaquil, Ecuador. The competition will be the first women’s tournament for the United States since the August IOC announcement of inclusion of women’s boxing in the 2012 Olympic Games..
More than 13 countries are expected to compete in the event, which will feature the best female athletes from North, Central and South America. Ten U.S. boxers will box in the event with nine reigning number one ranked national champions and one number two ranked athlete representing the United States. First round action will begin on October 5 at the Abel Jimenez Parra Coliseum with semifinal boxing taking place on October 7 and the finals being contested on October 8.
The ten boxers competing in Ecuador will be: Light Flyweight National Champion Laura Ramirez (Bronx, N.Y.), Flyweight National Champion Marlen Esparza (Houston, Texas); Bantamweight National Champion Seniesa Estrada (Los Angeles, Calif.); US National Championship featherweight bronze medalist Liz Leddy (Portland, Maine); Lightweight National Champion Patricia Manuel (Gardena, Calif.); Light Welterweight National Champion Queen Underwood (Seattle, Wash.); Welterweight National Champion Andrecia Wasson (Center Line, Mich.); Middleweight National Champion Alyssa Defazio (Peoria, Ariz.); Light Heavyweight National Champion Tika Hemingway (Pittsburgh, Pa.); and Heavyweight Traynora Locke (Lexington-Fayette, Ky.).
The United States team will be lead by 2001 Women’s World Championship coach Christy Halbert (Nashville, Tenn.) and Amy Griswold (Clayton, N.C.). with former two-time national champion Angel Bovee (Tully, N.Y.) working as the Team Manager. Dr. Martha Dodson (El Paso, Texas) joins the squad as the Team Physician with Brent Venegas (San Rafael, Calif.) working as the AIBA Official.
The United States delegation will depart for Ecuador on October 3 in preparation for the opening day of competition on October 5.
USA Boxing, as the national governing body for Olympic-style boxing, is the United States’ member organization of the International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA) and a member of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC). It is responsible for the selection and management of the United States Olympic Boxing Team, and for the governance and oversight of USA Boxing’s national organization of 38,000 members, 1,400 individual boxing clubs, and 1,600 sanctioned events annually.