The first edition of the Women’s World Boxing Championships was held in 2001 and hosted by Scranton in the US state of Pennsylvania.

It took place seven years after women’s boxing was formally recognised at the 13th AIBA Congress in Beijing.

A total of 125 boxers from 30 countries participated at the event, where Russia topped the medal standings with four golds.

Elena Sabitova took top honours in the 45 kilogram division, while there was also triumphs for fellow Russians Elena Karpetcheva, Irina Sinetskaya and Olga Domouladzhanova in the 54kg, 67kg and 81kg categories respectively.

North Korea were the best-performing nation at the second edition of the Championships, which were staged in Antalya, Turkey in 2002.

Their medal haul of two golds, two silvers and one bronze saw them narrowly better that of Ukraine, with the Eastern European country managing two golds, one silver and two bronzes.

Russia returned to the top of the medal standings when they hosted the third edition of the Championships in Podolsk in 2005.

They blew away the opposition, winning seven of the 13 golds on offer as well as one silver and four bronzes. 

The following year in New Delhi, Russia finished second with three golds and three bronzes as home nation India headed the rankings with four golds, one silver and three bronzes.

It was China’s turn to host the Championships in 2008 and they marked it by topping the medal standings in Ningbo City with five golds, two silvers and four bronzes. 

Two years later, Barbados' capital Bridgetown welcomed the world’s best female boxers to its shores for the sixth edition of the Championships.

They were held on the back of the International Olympic Committee Executive Board’s decision to introduce women’s boxing into the Olympic Games at London 2012.

Russia regained their place at the top of the medal standings with two golds and one silver.

China returned to the summit of the medal standings at the 2012 Championships in Qinhuangdao, which served as a qualifier for the Olympic Games that were to be held a few months later.

The host country’s haul of three golds, one silver and one bronze saw them lead the way with the seven other golds split between seven nations.

The eighth and most recent edition of the Championships took place in 2014 in Jeju, South Korea where 280 boxers from 67 countries competed.

The event was initially scheduled to be held in Edmonton, Canada, but Boxing Canada withdrew from hosting after failing to find a venue that was available for the dates suitable for AIBA.  

Russia returned to the top of the medal standings once more with three golds, one silver and one bronze.

Featherweight Zinaida Dobrynina, light welterweight Anastasiia Beliakova and heavyweight Zenfira Magomedalieva all triumphed for Russia.

Ireland’s Katie Taylor and the United States’ Claressa Shields, the London 2012 lightweight and middleweight gold medallists respectively, both struck gold.