LONDON, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- The Olympic boxing event concluded on Sunday with the victory of the host team UK, which collected three golds, one silver and one bronze to take the first place of the boxing medal table.
Ukraine and Cuba, both taking two golds, were listed second and third, and tradition superpower Russia stayed on the fourth place with one gold.
"The 12 medals available in the women's events were shared by nine countries. For the men's (events) there were 18 countries sharing 40 medals - so they both showed a very high distribution to many countries," said Wu Ching-Kuo, President of the International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA).
"Cuba got a gold medal after a long wait while Japan, who in 40 years had not won a gold medal, also managed to get one. It shows that the standard of boxing has been highly raised in the last few years. Many countries are developing the sport very well now."
Serik Sapiyev of Khazakstan was awarded the prestigious Val Barker trophy, which is given to the best male boxer at the Olympic Games. He was a comfortable 17-9 winner over local fighter Freddie Evans to claim gold in the 69kg division .
Vasyl Lomachenko of Ukraine won his second successive Olympic Games gold medal with an impeccable display against Han Soon-
chul of South Korea.
Murata Ryoto won Japan's first boxing gold medal since the Tokyo Olympic Games in 1964 when he edged out Brazilian fighter Esquiva Falcao Florentino 14-13.
Nicola Adams became the first ever female Olympic Games boxing champion after a superbly dominant 16-7 victory over Ren Cancan in the women's 51kg competition.
"I would love to see more girls getting into boxing and getting into the sport," said Adams about the inspiration she brought to the sport.
"When I retire it would be an amazing feeling if girls came up to me and said they want to achieve what I did. That would be as good as winning a gold medal."
The crowded venue for women's boxing showed the popularity and potential of the sport, and Wu wanted to bring more girls to the fighting stage four years later.
"Certainly 36 boxers is not enough. We have 10 categories, but to bring all of them we know is not realistic. However, we want more women boxers in the next Olympic Games. Let's see what we can do. There's still four years to go," said Wu.
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