In China, Female Boxers Strike a Blow Should women box? If they do, should they wear shorts, or skirts? For 305 women gathered this week at the Women's World Boxing Championships in Qinhuangdao, a seaside town about three hours" drive east of Beijing on the Gulf of Bohai, shorts ruled. And fists flew. The championships, whose finals are on Saturday, are historic, since women's boxing is debuting as an Olympic event at the London Games and most of the qualifiers will be chosen at Qinhuangdao. Several milestones were set - for boxing, for women and, not least, for China. Ren Cancan, a 24-year-old fighter from the poor, southern province of Guizhou, became China's first female boxer to qualify for the Games after beating Marlen Esparza of the United States on Wednesday, China Radio International reports here. This story from The Guangzhou Daily includes a photograph of Ms. Ren. Afghan women fought, too, appearing at the opening ceremony in headscarves. At home, they are not allowed to box in front of men, according to this Huffington Post report. For decades, governments and sporting bodies said no to women's boxing (it was demonstrated at the 1902 Athens Games but thereafter dropped as a sport, Agence France-Presse reports here). And if the skirts-versus-shorts question sounds frivolous, even offensive, the topic of women's gear in sports is real, with several major sporting bodies - notably in soccer and badminton - having publicly urged women to wear tighter shorts or skirts, on the grounds that it would make the sports more appealing. Katie Taylor of Ireland, who qualified at Qinhuangdao on Wednesday for the London Games, has called for the sport not to be sexualized, telling the BBC late last year, "I don't even wear mini-skirts on a night out, so I definitely won't be wearing one in the ring." See this report for a take on the wider pushback on this topic. A Reuters account of Ms. Taylor's match is here. The skirts issue aside, the prominence of women's boxing is new everywhere, with the women's championships having debuted only a decade ago. It's quickly winning admirers in China, where ideals of female beauty and virtue are strongly shaped by girlishness, not muscle. Ms. Ren is a former track-and-field athlete who was plucked, injured, from obscurity by the Chinese women's coach, Tian Dong, himself a former boxer who fought for 10 years before becoming a trainer. Other Chinese hopefuls include Li Jinzi and Dong Cheng. Mr. Tian struggled for years to survive in what he says is a "cold door," or low-profile, sport in China. He ran a boxing gym in Heilongjiang Province, on the Russian border, but had few customers, he recounted in this account on sports.sina.com (in Chinese). "There are quite a lot of boxing clubs in China but nearly all are in that kind of situation," Mr. Tian said. "Women's boxing entering the Olympics will have an impact on the sport here and there, but I don't think it will affect overall conditions," he said. Officially, salaries for boxers are very low, just 1,000 renminbi, or $158, a month, the site reported. Ms. Ren is thrilled at her qualification, she told The Shenzhen News. "My task in taking part in the world championships was to qualify for the Olympics, so I'm happy and excited," she said. My wish has been fulfilled and my heart is a lot steadier, I can go into the semi-finals on the 18th much more relaxed. Other notable matches saw India's Mary Kom losing to the world No. 2, Nicola Adams of Britain, in the quarterfinals. It was the first time Ms. Kom had failed to win a medal since the championships began in 2001, The Times of India reported here. And despite her defeat on Wednesday, Ms. Esparza, the American, still qualifies for London. Boxing slots are decided by a complicated system that takes geographical distribution into account and also offers honorary slots, as my colleague Barry Bearak wrote here. What do you think of women's boxing? And should women wear shorts or skirts, or have the right to choose for themselves?