KARACHI, May 6: Pakistan's hopes of earning another ticket to Olympics suffered a setback when flyweight Shoaib Rasheed was sent packing by Indonesia's Bonyx Yusak Saweho in third qualifying boxing tournament on Thursday.
The Pakistani seemed to be lacking in confidence, was shaky right from the first bell and even had difficulty in defending himself from power punches from his rival throughout the bout.
The Indonesian used the local pugilist as a punching bag and also floored Shoaib with a stinging right soon after the start of the opening round at Karachi Port Trust.
Shoaib again stumbled and received eight mandatory counts while Saweho handed out Shoaib a severe thrashing. The Pakistani, despite having better reach, could not prevent Saweho from scoring points at will. Shoaib had to take treatment for a nasty cut on his left cheekbone in the final round.
"I received this cut during sparring session on Friday. I was asked by the Cuban coach (Reinaldo Alveraz) to spar for this tournament," Shoaib told reporters after the fight.
Pakistan are looking for few more Olympic berths after three of their boxers - light-flyweight Noman Kareem, bantamweight Meherullah and lightweight Asghar Ali Shah - qualified for Athens Games earlier this year.
Sri Lanka's Anuruddha Rathnayake lost flyweight bout to China's Zou Gang 29-18, sparking protest from the Sri Lankan coach Jorge Luis Fromeya Mafos. "Our boxer was the actual winner. Everybody saw the fight and nobody is satisfied with the result. It is useless to lodge official protest as it is hard to convince the jury. We will only lose protest fee if we lodge complaint since jury hardly changes its decisions," Mafos said.
Gang went on defensive in the second round after a confident start in the opening round as the Sri Lankan recovered to score points. Rathnayake was more aggressive in the third and fourth round, although Gang scored some points.
War-ravaged Iraq had a disappointing day in the ring as their two boxers crashed out of the tournament after virtually one- sided defeats. Iran's Mojtaba Farajieraei thrashed Iraqi Jalal R. Fadhli 26- 14 in a flyweight fight that saw the winner having complete command over his rival.
Although Fadhli seemed to be recovering in the third from the beating he received in the two opening rounds, the Iranian finished off the job with ease in the fourth.
Suraka S. Mahdi was the second Iraqi to face defeat when he was whipped 30-19 by Turkmenistan's Annaopazov M in the bantamweight. "We just had two-day training for this event. Our training was also disturbed by bombings and fighting in Iraq. We had to spend 14 days at Kuwaiti border before coming here," Iraq's American coach Maurice L. Watkins said.
China's lightweight Chen Tongzhou disposed off India's Ramanad 24-14. Thailand's Worapoj Petchkoom got the better of Philippines Ferdie Gamo 21-12 in another bantamweight bout, while his countryman lightweight Piichai Sayota lost to Uzbekistan's Suvankulov Jahangir 44-29.
Surprisingly, the last fight of the evening between Jordan's Faraj Al Matboli and lightweight Tilebekdi uulul Abyl of Kyrgyzstan was postponed. The fight is now scheduled for Friday.
Results:
Flyweight: E. Badar Uugan (Mongolia) bt Timur Shailezov (Kyrgyzstan) 27-7 RSC/OS; Zou Gang (China) bt Anuruddha Rathnayake (Sri Lanka) 29-18; M. Rakhim Zhanov (Kazakhstan) bt Ahmed Al Salami (Yemen) 22-2 RSC/OS; Mojtaba Farajieraei (Iran) bt Jalal R. Fadhli (Iraq) 26-14; Kaoru Murahashi (Japan) bt Umaron Mehrodj (Tajikistan) 12-8; Bonyx Yusak Saweho (Indonesia) bt Shoaib Rasheed (Pakistan) 28-12; Husay Sadar (Turkmenistan) bt Naseer Aida Fene (Kuwait) 30-10.
