BEIJING, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- The International Boxing Association (AIBA) announced here Monday their support for including women's boxing in the 2012 Olympic Games, saying they will submit a proposal to the International Olympic Committee in near future.

    The association made the announcement after an AIBA Extraordinary Committee meeting, at which the host of the 2009 Junior World Championships was selected to be Yerevan, capital of Armenia, and new boxing rules were approved.

    The AIBA has long wanted to include women's boxing in the Olympiad in a bid to promote the sport. It said to submit a proposal to IOC "in the coming months".

    Under the new boxing rules, four rounds of two minutes are changed into three of three minutes starting the beginning of next year, while weight categories for women and youth girls are aligned more closely with men to feature 11 categories.