Boxing: Roberto Cammarelle three fights away from an Olympic title
The quarterfinals of three weight categories (Bantamweight 54kg, Featherweight 57kg and Super Heavyweight +91kg) will be held on August 18 at the Workers' Gymnasium in Beijing.
Reigning world champion Roberto Cammarelle of Italy will face Colombian Oscar Rivas in the quarterfinals of the Super Heavyweight category. In the Featherweight division, Vasyl Lomachenko of Ukraine faces China's Li Yang while Indian boxer Akhil Kumar is hoping to add to his list of upsets in the Bantamweight class against Veaceslav Gojan of Moldova.
Bantamweight (54kg)
After Russia's Sergey Vodopyanov crashed out of the tournament in the last round, Enkhbat Badar-Uugan of Mongolia is now the medal favorite in this weight class. In the quarterfinals, Enkhbat should easily overcome Botswana's Khumiso Ikgopoleng.
If successful, Enkhbat, who was the silver medalist at last year's World Championships, will face the winner of the bout between Veaceslav Gojan of Moldova and Akhil Kumar of India.
Both Gojan and Kumar come to the quarterfinals as dark horses. Gojan defeated China's Gu Yu 13-6, while Kumar defeated World No. 1 Vodopyanov after a tight bout in the last round.
In the top half of the draw, the bout between Thailand's Worapoj Petchkoom and Cuba's Yankiel Leon Alarcon is the most anticipated.
Alarcon is best known for beating Cuban great Yan Barthelemy, who won Olympic gold four years ago in Athens. At the Beijing 2008 tournament, Alarcon finished off Kazakhstan's Kanat Abutalipov 10-3 in the last round and will now challenge himself against Petchkoom, the silver medalist at Athens 2004.
Featherweight (57kg)
The highlight of this weight category is the fight between China's Li Yang and Ukraine's Vasyl Lomachenko.
Lomachenko came to the quarterfinal by beating Russia's Albert Selimov 14-7 in the opening bout of the tournament.
Li survived a tough bout against Ecuador's Luis Porozo, edging Porozo out 6-5. Porozo was the silver medalist at the 2008 Pan American Championships.
The bout between Lomachenko and Li is a rematch of last year's World Championships semifinal, where Lomachenko narrowly defeated Li and eventually won the silver medal.
The winner of the bout between Lomachenko and Li will face the winner of the fight between Turkey's Yakup Kilic and Algeria's Abdelkader Chadi. Chadi, the reigning African champion, should defeat Kilic.
Cuba's Idel Torriente is the best boxer in the bottom half of the draw. The reigning Pan American champion is one of Cuba's best medal hopes. Torriente should beat Azerbaijan's Shahin Imranov in the quarterfinals.
Super Heavyweights (+91kg)
As the reigning world champion, Cammarelle is the gold medal favorite in this weight class. However, in order to take the crown he will have to outclass Colombia's Oscar Rivas, the reigning Pan American champion.
If successful, Cammarelle's next rival will be the winner of the bout between Great Britain's David Price and Lithuania's Jaroslav Jaksto. Both fighters do not pose a huge threat to Cammarelle.
In the top quarter of the draw, China's Zhang Zhilei will fight Kazakhstan's Ruslan Myrsatayev, while Ukraine's Vyacheslav Glazkov will take on Algeria's Newfel Ouatah. If Zhang and Glazkov win, the two will meet in the semifinal, which will be a rematch of last year's World Championships semifinal, where Zhang lost to Glazkov 11-21.
http://en.beijing2008.cn/
Published on: 2008-08-18
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