July 09, 2006	Sunday	Jumadi-ul-Sani 12, 1427

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KARACHI, July 8: Pakistan’s Sajid Raja lost tamely to Turkmenistan’s Suvankulov Jahongir, while local star Asghar Ali Shah broke sweat before overpowering Turkmenistan’s Bayram Annamamedov in Green Hill Cup boxing preliminary bouts on Saturday.

Six other Pakistanis from Pakistan Greens and Whites including ace pugilist Mehrullah, moved ahead to give hosts a medal hope at KPT Sports Complex.

Mohammad Waseem, Noor Badshah, Abid Ali, Ali Mohammad and Bakht Hussain were the other local boxers to forge ahead.

While it was a confident start for Pakistanis, for Sajid it was a disastrous day as he lost to Jahongir 22-30 in the lightweight encounter which was the last bout of the day.

Adopting a cautious approach, Sajid of Whites and Jahongir scored some points and ended the first round deadlocked at 7-7. But it was in the second round that the Uzbek showed his class with a series of power punches and completely prevailed over hapless Sajid who trailed 12-17 at the end of the round.

Having a better reach, Jahongir was confident throughout the third round and thrashed Sajid with combination of left and right to end the round with the score 21-16 in his favour. Although Sajid seemed to be recovering in the final round when he scored six points, Jahongir’s aggressive approach helped him emerge an easy 30-22 victor.

Asghar, the 1998 Commonwealth Games silver medallist representing Greens, had a close shave before being declared a 28-23 lightweight winner. Despite having slight advantage of longer reach, Asghar was on defensive in the opening round as Annamamedov dominated the proceedings and led 7-6.

The second round was even more discouraging for Asghar when he was floored by the Turkmen with a powerful right. Asghar got up quickly only to receive some more punishment from Annamamedov who led 15-12.

Displaying fine technique and stamina, the Turkmen was again dominating over Asghar in the third round. But a sudden recovery by Asghar earned him two crucial points in the dying moments of the round, helping the local hero lead 19-18.

It was his rich international experience that finally gave Asghar much needed confidence in the final round as he fought his way by scoring crucial points to emerge winner.

Unlike Asghar, featherweight Merhrullah had smooth sailing when he bulldozed his way to earn a comfortable victory over Egyptian Mohd Kassaban with jury blowing the whistle as the score reached 21-1 in the second round.

Light-flyweight Waseem of Greens was not an easy winner against Egyptian Atif Al Korshy as the visitor fought hard before bowing down 22-32.

Noor of Whites won the flyweight bout, defeating Madiyev Timur of Kazakhstan 37-25, while Greens’ Abid thrashed Kazakhstan’s Sovetov Gali 36-17 in the bantamweight fight.

Ali Mohammad, a bantamweight of Whites, handed a crushing 46-27 defeat to Itsarayut Jantaraporn of Thailand. Featherweight Bakht of Whites was declared 25-8 winner despite a gutsy fight by Italian Alessio D. Savino throughout four rounds.

Meanwhile, flyweight bout between Indian boxer and Sri Lanka’s T.B. Harsha Kumara has been rescheduled for Sunday as Indian squad reached late. However, chairman jury Yoo Jae Joon said since the Indians had already confirmed entry, according to AIBA rules, weigh-in of their boxer will be done on Sunday.

Results (preliminary round):

Light-flyweight: Mohammad Waseem (Pakistan Greens) bt Atif Al Korshy (Egypt) 32-22; Epeshkin (Kazakhstan) bt Sadegm Faragzabh (Iran) 19-7 (OS).

Flyweight: Holmuratov Ulugbek (Uzbekistan) bt Mohd Alenezi (Kuwait) 22-8; India v T.B. Harsha Kumara (Sri Lanka) (rescheduled); Lee Ok Sung (Korea) bt Omran Ackbarie (Iran) 30-12; Ali Saad Dhis (Saudi Arabia) bt Ibrahim Abdek (Egypt) 36-24; Noor Badshah (Pakistan Whites) bt Madiyev Timur (Kazakhstan) 37-25.

Bantamweight: Abid Ali (Pakistan Greens) bt Soveto Gali (Kazakhstan) 36-17; M.D.K. Wanniarchchi (Sri Lanka) bt Mohd Rezkalla (Egypt) 21-17; Han Soon-Chil (Korea) bt Tran Quoc Viet (Vietnam) 24-12; Ali Mohammad (Pakistan Whites) bt Itsarayut Jantaraporn (Thailand) 46-27.

Feathweighweight: Mehrullah (Pakistan Greens) bt Mohd Kassaban (Egypt) 21-1 OS/II; Sultonov Bahodirjon (Uzbekistan) bt Orlando Tacutan Jr (Philippines) 23-3 (OS/II); Ibrahim Manie (Saudi Arabia) bt Naser Al Mutawa (Kuwait) 19-6; Do Jae Lee (Korea) bt Mahrdad Haedeum (Iran0 24-17; A.G.K.K Sameera (Sri Lanka) bt Ibrahim Sanda (Syria) 24-16; P.O. Teengthong (Thailand) bt Eddy Kalia (Malaysia) 22-3 (OS/III); Bakht Hussain (Pakistan Whites) bt Alessio D. Savino (Italy) 25-8.

Lightweight: Asghar Ali Shah (Pakistan Greens) bt Bayram Annamamedov (Turkmenistan) 28-23; Genebert Basadre (Philippines) bt Paunandes Paulus (Malaysia) 23-13; Yaser Shekhan (Syria) bt M. Kamal Abdelsalam (Egypt) 11-0 (OS/II); W.W.R.G. Weligalla (Sri Lanka) bt Mohamed Darazi (Saudi Arabia) 21-4; Suvankulov Jahongir (Uzbekistan) bt Sajid Raja (Pakistan Whites) 30-22.