(COLORADO SPRINGS, CO) – A group of eight pioneers for women’s boxing traveled to Brazil this week to compete in the 2010 Women’s Continental Championships. After a well contested tournament of international competition the self-funded US Team brought back two bronze and a silver medal. 2010 US National Flyweight Champion, Jessica Ponce (Napa, Calif.) earned a silver medal after falling short to a Venezuelan boxer on points. Ponce gave a strong performance leading every round in both the quarterfinals against Argentina and semifinals against Mexico.
Welterweight Brittany Inkrote (Red Lion, Penn.) and middleweight Latarisha Fountain (Lindenhurst, NY) brought home bronze medals. Inkrote and Fountain both lost in the semifinals against the strong Argentina Boxing Team.
Lightweight Angel Hamby (Orlando, Flor.) and light welterweight Stephanie Han (El Paso, Texas) both lost in the quarterfinals. Hamby lost after a 13-9 decision against an Argentina boxer who received the “Best Boxer” Award at the 2009 Women’s Continental Championships. Han lost on an 8-3 decision to a strong Puerto Rican boxer.
The team consisted of 2010 US National Flyweight Champion, Jessica Ponce (Napa, Calif.), lightweight Angel Hamby (Orlando, Flor.), light welterweight Stephanie Han (El Paso, Texas), welterweight Brittany Inkrote (Red Lion, Penn.) and middleweight Latarisha Fountain (Lindenhurst, NY). The team was led by Coach Christy Halbert (Nashville, Tenn.), Kevina Franklin and Martha Dodson (El Paso, Texas).
Team awards were given out to the teams based on their performance. Brazil took home the gold, Canada received silver and Argentina the bronze.
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.
