It was one of those special moments when the very start of a sporting contest warranted loud applause.

At this cavernous East London exhibition centre, at 1.30pm, two athletes climbed through the ropes of the Olympic boxing ring and struck a huge blow for the cause of gender equality in sport.

The seconds stepped out. The bell was rung. And, a small matter of 108 years after women's boxing made it fleetingly onto the Games programme as a demonstration sport in Saint Louis, Missouri, the first two female athletes finally bestrode an Olympic boxing ring.

The draw had decreed that a North Korean flyweight called Hye Song Kim and Elena Savelyeva, a former kick-boxer and cross-stitching aficionado from Russia, would share the honour of battling out this ground-breaking fight.

It was a tame affair, with Savelyeva winning 12-9 and the North Korean boxer enjoying unexpectedly vociferous support from a small red-tracksuited group of her compatriots, but that was hardly the point.

Not for the first time at this Olympic Games, history had been made.

North Korea's Hye Sing Kim and Russia's Elena Savelyeva make history as first women boxers to compete at the Olympics in 108 years

The point, of course, was not lost on the watching C K Wu, President of AIBA, the International Boxing Association.

"After so many years' work, I am so touched finally that women are inside the ring at the Olympic Games," Wu told me.

"This is an historical moment.

"All the effort has now become reality.

"Yes, I'm very proud, but also very, very pleased.

"There have been so many boxing fans every day in this arena.

"It is the first time women's boxing has appeared in public openly.

"I can see many people share my pride."

The arena was perhaps 80-85 per cent full and oddly subdued for that opening encounter, but this soon changed with the appearance in the third bout of Chungneijang Mary Kom Hmangte, the Indian star who represents one of her vast country's best hopes of winning a gold medal at these Games.

Fighting on her son's fifth birthday, in a heavier weight category than those in which she had won her five world titles, Hmangte delighted the crowd by boxing with pace, skill and aggression to outclass Karolina Michalczuk, her much bigger Polish opponent.

Poland's Karolina Michalczuk the only woman to compete at an Olympic Games in a skirt instead of shorts

"This is my 12th year of fighting and I came back out of retirement and changed my weight because I had to play at the Olympic Games," Hmangte said afterwards, underlining he sense of occasion.

"This is very important."

"It is a very big day for Indian boxing," concurred Indian coach Gurbaksh Singh Sandhu as a partisan section of the crowd celebrated raucously.

Michalczuk at least had the consolation of a footnote in Olympic history as the first woman to box at the Olympic Games in a skirt.

That was loud, but it was nothing compared to the thunderous reception given the first British woman boxer to take the Olympic stage, lightweight Natasha Jonas.

Jonas's opponent, Quanitta "Queen" Underwood, is a good fighter and Jonas's passage to a quarter-final match-up with Irish gold medal hope Katie Taylor was far from assured.

But in probably the best bout of the afternoon, the Liverpudlian fought with courage and panache to outbox her muscular opponent by a score of 21-13.

America's Queen Underwood defends against Britain's Natasha Jonas

The announcement of the winner produced, well, bedlam, a taste no doubt of what is in store should any of the three British women make it to their respective finals.

"How could you not enjoy it in front of 10,000 home fans?" Jonas said later, as her achievement in becoming the first British woman to win an Olympic boxing match started to register.

"It's unbelievable to finally be here.

"It's like a dream come true.

"It's always brilliant to make history.

"I'm proud of myself, but first and foremost I came here to box."

Britain's Natasha Jonas celebrates after beating American Queen Underwood at ExCeL

The verdict on this first Olympic session of 12 eight-minute bouts has to be that it was a resounding success – and should help to defuse some of the controversy that still attaches in some circles to the idea of women trading punches.

One small personal regret is that there are no women from Cuba, the Olympic boxing nation par excellence, at London 2012.

Make no mistake though, on this showing, Olympic women's boxing is here to stay.

David Owen worked for 20 years for the Financial Times in the United States, Canada, France and the UK. He ended his FT career as sports editor after the 2006 World Cup and is now freelancing, including covering the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2010 World Cup. His Twitter feed can be accessed at here