RI boxers overcome first hurdles

Fadli, The Jakarta Post, Batam, Riau Islands

Four Indonesian boxers won the opening fights in the President's Cup here on Saturday.

Abdul Razak, Erico Amanupunyo, Rionando Butar Butar and Daud Yordan all chalked up lopsided victories over their respective opponents in the tournament.

Bambang Rusyadi was the only Indonesian loser on the day,

Razak scored a 33-13 win over Le Tuan Dung of Vietnam in the light heavyweight division and welterweight fighter Enrico triumphed 24-4 over Huang Chia Wei of Chinese Taipei.

Rionando and Daud stopped their Indian foes, respectively edging Balbir Singh 22-2 in light flyweight and thumping Torak Kharappan 27-7 in the featherweight fight.

Bambang Rusyadi lost to Kim Kwi-young of South Korea 29-21 in the middleweight division.

The opening day saw contests in 11 weight classes. Other boxers who got through to the next round included Kim Jae-ki of South Korea in light heavyweight, Asghar Ali Shah (Pakistan/welterweight), Godfrey Castro (Philippines/light flyweight), Mohammad Younus (Pakistan/featherweight), Mohammad Nu Rizal Murat Airmassov (Kazakhstan/featherweight) and Hayatullah (Pakistan/light welterweight).

Around 120 boxers from 13 countries are participating in the tournament, which has 10 weight classes.

The participating countries are Vietnam, Malaysia, India, Kazakhstan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Japan, Pakistan, Chinese Taipei, Laos and South Korea.

Indonesia is fielding 21 boxers grouped in three teams: Garuda, Rajawali and Elang.