KARACHI, May 9: Welterweight Nisar Khan walloped UAE's Saeed Abdulla in the first round to become fourth Pakistani to reach quarterfinals of the third Olympic boxing qualifying tournament on Sunday.
The clash proved merely a brief sparring session for Nisar who clobbered Abdulla with a series of heavy punches to emerge winner at KPT Sports Complex. The one-side bout ended almost after a minute into opening round as Nisar started confidently with a display of powerful punches forcing the referee to give Abdulla eight mandatory counts.
Nisar resumed with ferocious boxing skills to win 17-1 with contemptuous ease after referee stopped the contest because of over scoring (RSC/OS) in the first round. After Sunday's victory, Nisar has joined three of his compatriots featherweight Sohail Baloch, light-welterweight Faisal Kareem and middleweight Ahmad Ali Khan who have already reached the last eight stage.
Thailand dominated the day with two of their boxers qualifying for the semifinals and one reaching quarterfinals. Worapoj Petchkoom of Thailand faced stiff resistance before outpunching Tajikistan's Usarov Sokhib 18-12 to qualify for the bantamweight semifinals.
The Tajik performed better in the first two rounds, while Petchkoom utilised his better reach to contain his rival's aggression in the third round. Tajik came all out in the fourth round as Thai was busy defending himself but finally won the fight.
Lightweight fight ended in the second round when another Thai Piichai Sayota thrashed Arashev Mardan of Turkmenistan to reach semifinals. Sayota won with a RSC/OS decision in the second round which also saw eight counts for the Turkmen.
Manon Boo njumnong of Thailand had no difficulty in outboxing Kyrgyzstan's Davran Habirov 26-16 to reach welterweight quarterfinals. India's Diwakar Prasad reached bantamweight semifinals with a 23-8 victory over Annaopazov M of Turkmenistan.
After a better start in the first and second round, the Indian missed his target most of the time in the third, while Turkmen fought back in the final round. Prasad, who chose to have a cautious approach rather being aggressive, eventually became winner despite a late charge by the Turkmen.
Mongolia's U. Munkh Eldene proved too strong for Wahhbbe Abdullah of Syria and won the lightweight bout after RSC verdict. The fight was stopped when Syrian got severe thrashing in the third round resulting in his bloody nose which had to be wiped off by the ringside doctor.
Although two Iraqi boxers crashed out of the competition, Zuhair Kh. Jabbar brought joy for the war-ravaged country by defeating Naoki Hirata of Japan 17-9 to move into welterweight quarterfinals.
Iraq's light-flyweight Najah S. Ali was sent packing by Toshiyuki Iqarashi of Japan after a 19-33 quarterfinals defeat, while light-heavyweight Kurbancv SA of Turkmenistan whipped Iraq's Ahmed Kh. Nasir 30-10 to advance into last four.
