KARACHI, July 12: Top Pakistani pugilists — Asghar Ali Shah, Mehrullah, Abid Ali and Faisal Kareem — kept gold medal hopes alive when they boxed their way into Green Hill Cup boxing finals on Wednesday.

While four top-ranking Pakistani boxers of Pakistan Greens had a field day as expected, their compatriot flyweight Noor Badshah of Pakistan Whites was thrashed by Korea’s Kee Ok-Sung 21-1 at KPT Sports Complex.

Asghar, one of the boxers on whom Pakistan are banking on to win the gold, got the better of Wang Yizui of China 28-19 in the lightweight semifinals.

Although Asghar emerged winner in the end, the Chinese gave a tough time to local favourite in the opening round as he traded punches to finish the first-round levelled 4-4.

The Chinese was as resilient in the second round as he was in the first. Asghar, though, had an upper hand as he displayed his trademark technical boxing skills, Yizui too scored vital points to closely trail 10-13.

It was in the third round that Asghar really changed gear as he landed several accurate punches to lead the round 21-13. Asghar repeated his performance in the final round as he kept scoring points with calculated punches to win the bout.

Mehrullah, Asian Games gold medallist, outboxed Uzbekistan’s Sulonov Bahodirjon 25-17 to the featherweight semifinal.

Like Asghar, Mehrullah also faced stiff resistance in the first round as the Uzbek didn’t prove an easy prey for the Pakistani hero who led the round 4-3. Bahodirjon was again tenacious in the second round and fought hard landing some power punches, while Mehrullah too scored precious points to lead 13-10.

The Uzbek further reduced the margin in the third round as he showed aggression. However, the Pakistani prevailed over the Uzbek as he led the third round 17-15. Mehrullah finally came out of his groove in the final round when he showed his class through stinging punches which helped him walk away a 25-17 victor.

Faisal booked a final berth with an outright 34-17 triumph over Syrian Abdullah Wahaba in the light-welterweight bout.

The local boxer prevailed over his weaker opponent from the outset to lead first round 9-3. But there was further punishment for the Syrian as Faisal hammered him throughout the second round to lead 21-7.

Faisal added seven more points in the third round to lead 28-14, although Wahaba secured equal number of points but Faisal finished off the job with some heavy pounding in the final round to become a deserved winner.

Abid was the fourth Pakistani to reach the finals in style when he outgunned Korea’s Han Soon-Chul 32-20.

The first round proved a close one as both Abid and Soon-Chul fought neck-and-neck but the Pakistani led 5-4. Abid tested his Korean rival with some accurate punches in the second round to stretch the lead 17-11.

It was the third round which saw Abid prevailing over Soon-Chul as he punished the Korean with telling jabs amid cheers from home crowd to lead 26-16. Soon-Chul fought back in the final round to score four points but it was Abid who eventually emerged 32-20 winner.

It was, however, a disappointing day for regional powerhouses Uzbekistan as all of four semifinalists crashed out of the tournament. It was only bantamweight Doniyovov Tulashboy who fully stretched Joan Tipon of Philippines before surrendering 11-15.

In a surprising result, Thailand’s Teengthong lost to Lee Ok-Jae of Korea, although the Korean received eight mandatory counts twice during the bout in which Thai seemed to have dominated.

Results (semifinals):

Light-flyweight: Harry Tanamor (Philippines) bt Wael Slaiman (Syria) 32-11; Hong Mo-won (Korea) bt Sadegm Faragzabh (Iran) 44-26.

Flyweight: Violito Payla (Philippines) bt Holmuratov Ulugbek (Uzbekistan) 28-14; Kee Ok-Sung (Korea) bt Noor Badshah (Pakistan Whites) 21-1 OC/II.

Bantamweight: Joan Tipon (Philippines) bt Doniyovov Tulashboy (Uzbekistan) 15-11; Abid Ali (Pakistan Greens) bt Han Soon-Chul (Korea) 32-20.

Featherweight: Mehrullah (Pakistan Greens) bt Sulonov Bahodirjon (Uzbekistan) 25-17; Lee Ok-Jae (Korea) bt Teengthong (Thailand) 26-20.

Lightweight: Asghar Ali Shah (Pakistan Greens) bt Wang Yizui (China) 28-19; Yaser Shekhan (Syria) bt Suvankulov Jahongir (Uzbekistan) 29-22.

Light-welterweight: Faisal Kareem (Pakistan Greens) bt Abdullah Wahaba (Syria) 34-17.