The Official Website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic GamesAugust 8-24 2008
(BEIJING, August 18) -- The quarterfinals of three weight categories (54kg, 57kg and +91kg) concluded tonight at the Workers' Gymnasium in Beijing. Medal favorite Enkhbat Badar-Uugan of Mongolia (54kg) and Roberto Cammarelle of Italy (+91kg) advanced to the semifinals as expected. And Ukraine's Vasyl Lomachenko (57kg) finished off a tough opponent, Li Yang of China, to earn himself a spot in the semifinal.
Bantamweight (54kg)
Medal favorite Enkhbat Badar-Uugan of Mongolia, the silver medalist at last year's World Championships, thumped Botswana's Khumiso Ikgopoleng 15-2 to advance to the semifinals.
In another bout in the same half of the draw, Akhil Kumar of India was brought to earth by Veaceslav Gojan of Moldova, with a 10-3 defeat.
Both Gojan and Kumar had outclassed tough opponents to reach the quarterfinals. Gojan defeated China's Gu Yu 13-6, while Kumar eliminated World No. 1 Vodopyanov after a tight bout in the Round of 16.
With his victory over Kumar, Gojan has booked himself a showdown with Badar-Uugan in the next round.
In the top half of the draw, Cuba's Yankiel Leon Alarcon posted a convincing 10-2 victory over Thailand's Worapoj Petchkoom, the silver medalist at Athens 2004.
Alarcon won the opening round 2-0. And he took the second and third rounds 3-1 and 4-0. Petchkoom tried to comeback, with the fourth round ending at 1-1.
Alarcon's next rival will be Bruno Julie from Mauritius, who defeated Venezuela's Hector Manzanilla Rangel 13-9 in this round.
Featherweight (57kg)
In the most anticipated fight in this weight class, Ukraine's Lomachenko outclassed China's Li Yang 12-3 to advance to the next level.
Li lost to Lomachenko in the semifinals of the 2007 tournament, where Lomachenko eventually claimed the silver medal.
Lomachenko's semifinal rival will be Turkey's Yakup Kilic, who shocked Algeria's Abdelkader Chadi, the reigning African champion 13-6 in this round.
In the bottom half of the category, Azerbaijan's Shahin Imranov caused this weight classes' biggest upset, edging out Cuba's Idel Torriente's 16-14. The whole bout was fought in a seesawing fashion. Round one and round four finished as ties, 2-2 and 5-5. Imranov led with the slimmest margin in the rest two rounds, 5-4 and 4-3, but these two extra points were enough to finish off the Cuban, the reigning Pan American champion and one of Cuba's best medal hopes.
Imranov's next rival is France's Khedafi Djelkhir, who defeated Mexico's Arturo Santos Reyes 14-9.
Super Heavyweights (+91kg)
Reigning world champion Roberto Cammarelle of Italy moved ahead with a 9-5 win over Colombian Oscar Rivas. Cammarelle started out strong, posting a 2-1 lead in the first round and never looked back. He won the next three rounds 2-1, 3-2 and 2-1 to secure the semifinal place.
Cammarelle's next rival is Great Britain's David Price, who won the fight because his opponent, Lithuania's Jaroslav Jaksto, got a leg injury. The judges stopped the bout for safety concerns.
David was eliminated in the qualifying stage of the Athens 2004 boxing tournament. But this time, the 25-year-old Briton is guaranteed at to win a bronze medal at the very least.
In the top quarter of the draw, China's Zhang Zhilei crushed Kazakhstan's Ruslan Myrsatayev 12-2.
Zhang's semifinal opponent is Ukraine's Vyacheslav Glazkov, who defeated the 2007 African champion Newfel Ouatah of Algeria 10-4 in this round.
