Dadan slugs for single RI gold
Fadli, The Jakarta Post, Batam
Dadan Amanda beat Murat Airmassov of Kazakhstan in the 54- kilogram final here on Thursday to earn Indonesia the only victory, while South Korea claimed five of 10 golds on offer at the President's Cup amateur boxing championship.
Dadan showed confidence and good form to take charge of his opponent from the starting bell. Displaying his trademark flexible footwork through the fight, he outplayed Airmassov with a 17-10 win in three rounds.
The other Indonesia-Kazakhstan fight ended with visiting pugilist Azat Kazihanouv emerging victorious, stopping Toar Sompotan in the second round of the 69-kilogram fight.
While Toar rued his missed chance, Dadan reveled in a success that took him by surprise.
"I still can't believe that I beat Murat, who has more international experience than me. I'm relieved that I won a gold for Indonesia," said Dadan.
Dadan's victory, however, could not alleviate the disappointment of Djoko Pramono, head of the Indonesian training program for the 2005 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games and the 2006 Asian Games.
Djoko, who is also National Sports Council (KONI) director of development affairs, said the team had not prepared well ahead of the tournament.
"Pertina must learn from this," he said, referring to Indonesian Amateur Boxing Association. "They should train better for the next events so that they don't end in disappointment."
"Dadan should be given extra attention. He is a boxer with potential whom we can rely on in the future," he added.
Indonesia fielded 21 of 120 boxers who participated in the tournament, with visiting boxers representing 12 countries.
South Korea lived up to its status as a boxing stronghold with its five-gold win, while Chinese Taipei, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Pakistan and the Philippines took a single gold each. Triumphant sluggers included Koreans Ha Jung-kwen, Hong Moo- won, Kim Jae-ki, Lee Ok-sung and Song Hank-sung, as well as Chung Chun Qiu of Chinese Taipei, Asghar Ali Shah of Pakistan and Bill Vicera of the Philippines.