By Ashraf Hamed Atta
PARIS (Reuters) – Egypt’s first ever female boxer to qualify for the Olympics exited the Games without throwing a punch on Saturday when she failed to make the weight for the 54kg contest.
Youmna Ayyad had been due to fight heavily fancied Uzbek Nigina Uktamova, but weighed in almost a kilogram too heavy and was disqualified.
The Egyptian Olympic Committee said it was launching an immediate investigation into the disqualification.
“Youmna was scheduled to compete in the 54 kg category, and she gave her weight to federation officials at midnight before the bout and it was OK,” a furious EOC treasurer and national boxing federation chief Mohamed Abdel Aziz Ghoneim told Reuters.
“In the morning when she underwent the official weigh-in she was 900 grams over her weight and was disqualified.
Youmna, 21, was not immediately available for comment.
(Editing by Toby Davis)
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