28 August 2004	Saturday	11 Rajab 1425

ATHENS, Aug 27: British teenage boxer Amir Khan extended his amazing Olympic run by out pointing Kazakhstan's Serik Yeleuov on Friday to reach the final in Athens.

The 17-year-old lightweight, hoping to become the youngest Olympic boxing champion since American Floyd Patterson in 1952, recovered from a tentative start to win a 40-26 decision.

Amir looked nervous at first and trailed a much more experienced opponent after the first two rounds but he then moved into gear, shaking Yeleuov with flashing combinations.

The world junior champion, relying on swift footwork, rare hand speed and crowd-pleasing body moves, moved level on points in the third round. With Yeleuov running out of steam, he then took total control of the bout.

The only British boxer to have entered the tournament, Amir will face Cuba's Mario Kindelan in an intriguing final on Sunday. Kindelan, the defending champion who cruised past Russian Murat Khrachev in his semi-final, is widely regarded as the world's finest pound-for-pound amateur boxer and is nearly twice Khan's age at 33.

Amir is not the only boxer in Athens trying to earn a line behind Patterson in the record books. Turkey's light-flyweight Atagun Yalcinkaya, who also qualified for the final on Friday, is six days younger than the Briton.

SEMIFINAL RESULTS

FLYWEIGHT (51KG): Yuriorkis Gamboa (Cuba) bat Rustamhodza Rahimov (Germany) points 20-11; Jerome Thomas (France) beat Fuad Aslanov (Azerbaijan) points 23-18

FEATHERWEIGHT (57KG): Song Guk-Kim (North Korea) bt Vitali Tajbert (Germany) points 29-24; Alexei Tichtchenko (Russia) bt Jo Seok-hwan (South Korea) points 45-25

LIGHT-WELTERWEIGHT (64KG): Yudel Johnson (Cuba) bt Boris Georgiev (Bulgaria) points 13-9; Manus Boonjumnong (Thailand) bt Ionut Gheorghe (Romania) points 30-9

MIDDLEWEIGHT (75KG): Gennadiy Golovkin (Kazakhstan) bt Andre Dirrell (U.S.) points 23-18; Gaydarbek Gaydarbekov (Russia) bt Suriya Prasathinphimai (Thailand) points 24-18

HEAVYWEIGHT (91KG): Odlanier Solis (Cuba) bt Naser Al Shami (Syria) referee stopped contest, 1:29, rnd 3; Viktar Zuyev (Belarus) bt Mohamed Elsayed (Egypt) walk over

LIGHT-FLYWEIGHT (48KG): Atagun Yalcinkaya (Turkey) bt Sergey Kazakov (Russia) points 26-20; Yan Bhartelemy (Cuba) bt Zou Shiming (China) points 29-17

BANTAMWEIGHT (54KG): Guillermo Rigondeaux (Cuba) bt Bahodirjon Sooltonov (Uzbekistan) points 27-13; Worapoj Petchkoom (Thailand) bt Aghasi Mammadov (Azerbaijan) points 27-19

LIGHTWEIGHT (60KG): Amir Khan (Britain) bt Serik Yeleuov (Kazakhstan) points 40-26; Mario Kindelan (Cuba) bt Murat Khrachev (Russia) points 20-10. -Reuters