BUSAN, Oct 1: Lady Luck smiled on South Korea at the Busan Asian Games boxing draw Tuesday, producing one guaranteed medal, four opening round byes and allowing the hosts to avoid most of the favored fighters in the early rounds.

Only Kazakhstan’s Mukhtarkhan Dildabekov, the Sydney Olympic and defending Asian Games super-heavyweight champion seems capable of stopping a home whitewash in the early rounds.

With only six boxers in the light-heavyweight division, Choi Ki-Soo was assured of a medal when he drew a bye and was pitched straight into the semi-finals.

Thailand, which won five of the 12 boxing golds on home canvas at the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games, were also reasonably happy with the draw.

“We have some two or three fighters only in the early stage where we face a strong fight,” Ismael Antonio Salas Sebasco, the Cuban coach of Thailand said.

The Philippines, who bombed at the Bangkok Asiad, felt the orange pingpong balls used in the draw Tuesday bounced the wrong way for them.

“We really have to go through the eye of the needle on this one,” Filipino coach Nolito Velasco sighed after his top three medal prospects were pitched into the heavier half of their weights.

He also held reservations about the prospects of two other Filipinos who were drawn against fighters from Pakistan, the home country of International Amateur Boxing Association (IABA) president Anwar Chowdhry.

“They are Chowdhry’s boys, you know... it’s already a given,” Velasco said, raising the spectre that the “we don’t want any political decisions” plea from IABA Vice-President K. Thiruganasothi may not hold.—AFP