For the first time in Olympic Games history, the number and percentage of women participants will overtake their counterparts at the 2028 LA Olympics, with the former Olympic medalist and boxing veteran Mary Kom welcoming this momentous move with both hands. Following years of constant rise in their participation numbers, the number of women participants across all disciplines will be more than men in LA. Advertisment The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has decided to shrink the number of teams in the men"s football competition from 16 to 12; on the other hand, they expanded the women"s tournament by four teams, enlarging the number from 12 to 16. Besides, the addition of two teams in women"s water polo and an extra in the weight category in women"s boxing, making it 12 and seven, respectively, will see more women's spots (5655) than men"s (5543) across all 36 disciplines. Also read | Compound archery to make Olympic debut at LA 2028 Olympic Games “It"s a momentous decision, one that will encourage a lot of women to get into sports. The current generation will get opportunities we didn"t get. I wish I was competing right now just so that I didn"t have to wait for so long to compete at the Olympics,” India"s Mary Kom, who won the bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics, said in a chat with the Indian Express. AdvertismentHaving won five World Championship medals from 2002 to 2010, Mary had to wait till 2012 to participate in her first-ever Olympic Games, as until then, women"s boxing wasn"t part of the Olympic programme. However, despite their inclusion, there were only three categories for women as opposed to ten for men. Meanwhile, history was created twelve years later at the 2024 Paris Games, which saw an equal number of events for both genders for the first time. While it was 50-50 at the Paris Games, the percentage of women"s participants at the LA Games will be 50.5%. Concerning India, they had 45 women participants among the contingent of 110, and the number might increase at the next Games should women"s hockey and cricket teams qualify. Advertisment "It"s all merit-based" Addressing all talks around the grounds on which this decision was made, the IOC"s sports director Kit McConnell said, "every single one of those decisions was merit-based." Also read | LA28 Olympics: Cricket, to be played for first time since 1900, will be six-team event across men's and women's categories “All of these decisions are supported by numbers. The ticket demand — the incredible success of Paris across all venues, including every single session focused on women's sports. We have seen the broadcast numbers of women"s sports being absolutely equal if not even stronger, and we"ve seen the media coverage increase exponentially. All reflective of participation and popularity,” McConnell said, as quoted by the Indian Express. “We have seen the incredible growth of women"s team sports around the world — women"s football being a leader in that regard. For every single one of those quota places in the Olympic Games, there"s a number of countries that are investing in women"s sports to chase that qualification. So when we add two teams in water polo, it"s not just further investments in two countries… four women"s football teams, that"s not just another four countries that are chasing those places,” McConnell continued. (With inputs from agencies)