Russia showed its power in the quarter-finals of the World Boxing Championships, winning eight of nine matches on Thursday.
Super heavyweight Islam Timurziev defeated American Michael Hunter 22-15 and heavyweight Rakhim Chakhkeiv beat Eichin Alizade of Azerbaijan 17-6 -- sending both big men to the Beijing Olympics.
Also winning for Russia on Thursday was 2004 Olympic gold medalist Alexey Tishchenko, who beat Pichai Sayota of Thailand in a lightweight match that was stopped in the third round.
PHOTOS: AP
The lone quarter-final loss for Russia was by Georgy Balakshin, who was beaten 23-13 by American flyweight Rau'shee Warren.
Heavyweights Clemente Russo of Italy, Nijiati Yushan of China and John M'Bumba of France all won their matches to earn an Olympic berth.
Russo was a 15-3 winner over Milorad Gajovic of Montenegro, Yushan easily handled Jozsef Daniel Darmos of Hungary 28-11 and M'Bumba eliminated Mihail Muntean of Moldova 22-13.
Other super heavyweights making the Olympics were Vyacheslav Glazkov of Ukraine, Zhilei Zhang of China and Roberto Cammarelle of Italy.
Glazkov's fight with Jaroslav Jaksto of Lithuania was stopped in the third round. Zhang knocked down Daniel Beahan of Australia with one second remaining in the second round, ending the fight. Cammarelle won by a walkover against David Price of England.
And 2004 Olympic bronze medalist Shiming Zou of China easily advanced to the semi-finals with a 22-8 win over Patrick Barnes of Ireland in the light flyweight division. Zou won the gold medal at the 2005 world championships.
The International Amateur Boxing Association's Taiwanese president Wu Ching-kuo said he was pleased by the progress his organization has made to clean up the sport.
Noting that 38 different countries had fighters in the quarter-finals, Wu said it reflected sweeping changes implemented since he took over the post. He unseated longtime head Anwar Chowdhry last year.
More countries are doing well, Wu said, because there is uniformity in officiatiation.
"If the sport can't achieve fairness, the sport isn't worth it," Wu said. "It shows the standard of boxing and the quality of the referees and judges. ... Most important is the judging of the competition. Because it's fair, nobody can dominate. Nobody can manipulate," he said.
Yu Yao-hsing on Tuesday nabbed Taiwan’s only goal in the final round of qualifiers for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, as they fell 3-1 to Sri Lanka at Taipei Municipal Stadium. Early goals from Sri Lanka in the first half left Taiwan struggling to get on the board, and Christopher Tiao’s own goal at 53 minutes sealed the team’s fate in the third round of qualifiers. While acknowledging that the defeat, Taiwan’s sixth in Group D, was disappointing, head coach Matt Ross said he saw reasons to stay positive about the team’s development. “There were lots of positive signs in terms of the
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli yesterday vowed to “keep raising the bar” after winning the Japanese Grand Prix to become the youngest driver in Formula One history to lead the championship standings. The 19-year-old Italian took advantage of a mid-race safety car to jump into the lead after a dreadful start from pole position, crossing the line ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Antonelli’s Suzuka victory came two weeks after the first grand prix win of his career in China, and sent him top of the championship standings after three races, nine points ahead of team-mate George Russell. Mercedes are struggling to
INDIGESTION: Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup for a third consecutive time after a 4-1 defeat to Bosnia on penalties in a loss Gattuso said was ‘difficult to digest’ Coach Graham Arnold on Tuesday challenged his players to “shock the world” after Iraq became the 48th and final team to qualify for the FIFA World Cup with a nerve-shredding 2-1 win over Bolivia in an intercontinental playoff in Mexico, as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Sweden and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) also secured their places at the finals. Iraq, whose preparations were disrupted by the war in the Middle East, sealed their first appearance at the finals in 40 years and are to play in Group I against France, Senegal and Norway. Goals from Ali al-Hamadi
Teng Kai-wei, the only Taiwanese player on an opening-day roster in this year’s Major League Baseball (MLB) season, took his first win of the year with the Houston Astros in his season debut. Teng entered in relief in the top of the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday, with the Astros trailing 5-0. He pitched 2-1/3 scoreless innings with two strikeouts, as Houston scored 11 runs during his outing to snatch an 11-9 comeback victory. The win is the Astros’ first of the season and the third of Teng’s MLB career. “It’s my first time pitching for the Astros, so
RSS