Summary The decision to get rid of head guards in amateur boxing has paid rich dividends.
PARIS (AFP) - The decision to get rid of head guards in amateur boxing has paid rich dividends at the World Amateur Boxing Championships, the president of the sport Wu Ching-kuo told AFP.
The 67-year-old -- who has revolutionised amateur boxing since he took over the International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA) seven years ago -- said he was delighted that the change had not led to any serious injuries.
"There were 430 bouts in all and only very minor cuts," he told AFP by phone from Almaty where the championships came to a close on Saturday.
"These minor cuts were largely because in previous championships the boxers were used to pushing with their heads as they had the head guards as protection.
"There was one minor cut in Friday s semi-finals but not one bout was stopped because of a bad cut.
"All the spectators really enjoyed the spectacle, and more importantly the trainers, the boxers and the medical staff were all satisfied with the new measure.
"All in all a very positive thing to have done."
Wu, who among other things has successfully introduced women s boxing to the Olympics, said the new scoring system at the championships had also proved to be a roaring success.
There were few controversial decisions like those which had often blighted previous world championships and Olympic Games.
"There was only one protest in all the championships," said the Taiwanese chief, an architect by profession.
"That is because now computers select which three of the five judges are going to have their scores counted at the end of the bout.
"They don t know until the bout is over. This prevents any form of manipulation and I would say the scoring system is perfect."
Wu has also convinced the Cubans to join his World Series of Boxing AIBA s professional competition after decades of embracing amateurism.
He said that he had also been very happy to see boxers that the AIBA had helped to get to the championships perform well, including Costa Rica s David Rodriguez, who got his country s first ever medal with bronze in the light flyweight category.
"He was part of the Road to Dreams programme where we wanted to help those from emerging countries and poor ones who don t have the funds or the facilities and we put this in place in 2007," said Wu.
"We fund their travel and three weeks of intensive training at the host city of the championships and it is very moving to see them succeed - not just the Costa Rican but I think there were 60 of them here and several got to the last eight."
Amid all this rejoicing Wu took time out on Friday to inaugurate the Academy, a 20,000 square-metre complex near Almaty which will serve to house and educate trainers, medical staff, judges and boxers from all round the world on rule changes and also be a place where they can train.
Wu also insisted that he had got over his finishing last behind German Thomas Bach in September s election to replace outgoing International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge.
"The three months of electioneering taught me a lot," he said.
"Once it was over I went back to being friends with Thomas Bach.
"My philosophy is don t look back, look to the future."
