Indonesia eyes two golds in President's Cup

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia is aiming to take two gold medals in the final of the 19th President's Cup international amateur boxing tournament at the Grand Bali Beach hotel at Sanur, Bali, on Thursday night.

However, the three Indonesian boxers who earned the final berths will have to fight hard to overcome Mexico, who also qualified three boxers to the final round.

Both countries have so far collected 15 points after 16 bouts of competition.

Indonesia will rely on Juan Saparipan in the bantamweight class, Bonix Saweho in the finweight class and Albert Papilaya in the heavyweight division to collect the gold.

Juan will challenge Japanese boxer Yuji Kimura, Bonix is to meet B. Wicjramasinghe of Sri Lanka and Albert will fight Hosseini R. of Iran.

Juan's coach, John Amanapunyo, expressed his optimism that Indonesia would outshine Mexico in the final.

"I'm optimistic that Juan can win the tournament because his rival is not as strong as we thought," he was quoted by satusports.com as saying.

"However, winning the gold is not the only target. I also hope they can win the best boxer award."

Juan shared John's optimism. "I have physically prepared for the final bout. This is a life and death game," he said.

As a senior boxer, Albert said he was not terrified to meet Hosseini on Thursday.

"I must win the gold because I have to set a good example for my juniors and show that I can still achieve my best at my age," the 33-year-old boxer told the sports website.

Albert made his way to the final after a narrow 14-12 victory over Mahdi Kalani of Syria. Juan goes to the final after defeating Australian Justin Kane 27-16 on Tuesday, at the same time when Bonix beat Chanthasone Xayyaphone of Laos. (ivy)