Female boxer Nicola retires

LONDON: Two-time Olympic champion Nicola Adams, regarded as the pathfinder for women’s boxing, is to retire because of fears about her sight, the Briton announced on Wednesday.

The 37-year-old, who became the first ever women’s Olympic boxing champion at London 2012 when she took the flyweight crown, said she was abandoning her hopes of winning a third gold next year in Tokyo.

In an open letter to her local newspaper the Yorkshire Evening Post, Adams said she had decided to hang up her gloves because doctors had warned her sight would be permanently damaged if she continued to box. Adams had embarked on a successful professional career and in 2018, within 18 months of doing so, had won a world title — the vacant WBO flyweight belt.