Locals shine in President's Cup quarters

SANUR, Bali (JP): Indonesian welterweight Bara Gomies survived a hard fight in the quarterfinals of the 19th President's Cup international amateur boxing tournament on Monday, narrowly beating Chinese Lu Zong Wei 8-7.

Bara will challenge Junie Tizon of the Philippines, who defeated Australian Daniel Geale 14-13.

Teammate Albert Papilaya, competing in the heavyweight division, also had a narrow victory 14-12 over Mahdi Kalani of Syria. In the final, Albert will face Hosseini R of Iran, who defeated Ma Jing Wei of China.

From the first round, Bara kept throwing his right hook to try and force Lu to attack but he ignored it, despite Bara's vicious uppercuts to his stomach and face.

In the second and third rounds, Bara was more aggressive in his hooks but Lu managed to block.

Sensing he was down on the scoreboard, Lu punched harder in the fourth round but the Indonesian was saved by the bell to win the tough match.

"I believe the next match will be much harder but I'll win tomorrow's semifinals," Bara said.

Indonesian Joko Suryono also reached the semis after beating Qi Jing of China 10-4 in the light middleweight division.

"I am certain of a bronze medal in the tournament but I'll fight harder to do better. My real target is the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games and Asian Games. I will retain my SEA Games gold medal next year," said Joko.

But teammate Benny Elopere, a first timer at the international level, bowed out to Amiri H of Iran 19-7 in the middleweight class. (Bona Beding)

Results

Welterweight: Norian A (Irn) bt Rajesh Kumar (Ind) RSC 2nd rd; Usmanullah Khan (Pak) bt Daisuke Negishi (Jpn) RSC 2nd rd; Bara Gomies (Ina) bt Lu Zong Wei (Chn) 8-7; Junie Tizon (Phi) bt Daniel Geale (Aus) 14-13

Light middleweight: Spada Domenico (Ita) bt Azani B. Ghazali (Mal) RSC 1st rd; Joko Suryono (Ina) bt Qi Jing (Chn) 10-4; Yousef Masas (Syr) bt Weng Li Chun (Tpe) RSC 2nd rd; Soloviev Alexzi (Rus) bt Zertuche Jose Luis (Mex) 14-6

Middleweight: Kinzi Abdellahi (Alg) bt Wira bin H.M. Yassin (Bru) RSC 2nd rd; Amiri H (Irn) bt Benny Elopere (Ina) 19-7; Hardeep Singh (Ind) bt S.K. Kiribanda (Sri) RSC 2nd rd; Paul Miller (Aus) bt Kadour M (Syr) 14-6

Heavyweight: Hosseini R (Irn) bt Ma Jing Wei (Chn) RSC 4th rd; Albert Papilaya (Ina) bt Mahdi Kalani (Syr) 14-12