Berths for Asian boxers for Olympics
Berths for Asian boxers for Olympics
BANGKOK (Agencies): The final placements for Asian boxers for the Atlanta Olympics were handed out here Friday on the last day of the third and final leg of the qualifying tournament.
Four Thais won through Friday to join two boxers each from Pakistan, China, Indonesia, Mongolia and South Korea.
At the end of all three legs of the qualifiers, 67 boxers from Asian countries won berths.
Top qualifier was South Korea with 10, followed by Kazakhstan with eight, Uzbekistan seven, Thailand six, the Philippines and Indonesia each with five, Iran and Pakistan four each, Mongolia, India, Japan and China three and Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Syria, North Korea and Kyrgyzstan one each.
The first leg was held in Tashkent in October 1995 and the second leg in Cebu, the Philippines, in mid-January this year.
Winners and losing finalists in each division of the regional qualifiers made it to Atlanta, except for the heavyweight competition, which is only open to champions.
The U.S. boxers as hosts and Cuban boxers qualify for the Olympics in all 12 classes. The Olympic boxing competitions will be held at the Georgia Tech from July 20 to Aug. 4.
Indonesia's successful bid to add to the number of qualified boxers to go to Atlanta, making the number five, turned sour on Friday as Hermensen Ballo and Pino Bahari crashed out in the finals in Bangkok.
The country's most experienced pugilists, who secured Olympic berths after their semifinal wins on Thursday, ran out of steam in their thumping defeats on Friday.
Hermensen threw in his towel after the first round of his flyweight bout against Kazumaza Tsujimoto of Japan. Pino wasted his commanding 3-0 lead in the first round to go down 6-14 to Chen Tao of China in their middleweight fight later in the day.
Dejected Indonesian team manager Bambang Asmanu explained away his boxers' lackluster games with: "They fought it out for the coveted tickets, not the gold medals," he said.
He said that Hermensen had complained about a headache prior to the bout.