Locals shine in President's Cup quarters

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