The Official Website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic GamesAugust 8-24 2008
(BEIJING, August 20) – The last day of Beijing 2008 boxing quarterfinals concluded today at the Workers' Gymnasium in Beijing. Eight boxers fought in two weight categories, 51kg and 75 kg.
Medal favorite in the Flyweight class Italy's Vincenzo Picardi and Thailand's Somjit Jongjohor advanced to the semifinal as expected, while strong medal contenders in the Middleweight class, Kazakhstan's Bakhtiyar Artayev and Venezuela's Alfonso Blanco Parra were eliminated.
Flyweight (51kg)
Italy's Vincenzo Picardi showed why he is a strong medal contender by defeating Tunisia's surprise quarterfinalist Walid Cherif 7-5.
His semifinal opponent is Thailand's Somjit Jongjohor. The 33-year-old Thai veteran again demonstrated his class by comfortably eliminating Tajikistan's Anvar Yunusov 8-1.
Russia's Georgy Balakshin advanced to the semifinals after a thrilling bout with India's Jitender Kumar, defeating him 15-11.
Balakshin's semifinal rival is Andris Laffita Hernandez of Cuba, who overwhelmed McWilliams Arroyo Acevedo from Puerto Rico 11-2.
Middleweight (75kg)
The semifinal bouts in this weight class were full of surprises. James DeGale of Great Britain posted a convincing victory 8-3 over Kazakhstan's Bakhtiyar Artayev, the Athens 2004 gold medalist and the bronze medal winner of last year's world champions.
DeGale's semifinal winner is another surprise semifinalist, Ireland's Darren John Sutherland.
After battering Algeria's Nabil Kassel in the quarterfinals, Sutherland caused another upset, thumping Venezuela's Alfonso Blanco Parra 11-1. Blanco Parra was the silver medalist at last year's world championships.
Cuba's Emilio Correa Bayeaux, the reigning Pan American champion, edged out Uzbekistan's Elshod Rasulov 9-7, and will fight India's Vijender Kumar, who eliminated Ecuador's Carlos Gongora 9-4.
