November 02, 2007	Friday	Shawwal 20, 1428

CHICAGO, Nov 1: Defending light flyweight champion Zou Shiming, a bronze medallist at the Athens Olympics, routed David Ayrapetyan of Russia 23-6 on Wednesday to reach the quarter-finals of the World Boxing Championships.By making the last eight, the Chinese earned a spot in the Beijing Olympics in his home country.

It marked Russia’s first loss at the championships that started more than a week ago. Russia entered the competition on Wednesday with a 22-0 record.

Russia’s Alexey Tishchenko, the reigning Olympic featherweight champ, rolled to a lightweight victory over Husnu Kocabas of the Netherlands and will go after another gold medal in Beijing.

With Tishchenko ahead 25-5, the lopsided contest was stopped by referee Rogello Fortaleza in the third round. Tishchenko will meet Pichai Sayota of Thailand, who advanced with a 21-13 victory over Mongolia’s Uranchimeg Munkh-Erdene.

Two Americans also advanced to the quarter-finals: light flyweight Luis Yanez beat Stephen Sutherland of Australia with the referee stopping the contest in the second round while Rau’shee Warren beat Violito Payla of the Philippines 25-11 in the flyweight division.

The top eight finishers in the light flyweight to light heavyweight divisions and the top four from the heavyweight and super heavyweight classes qualify for the Olympics. There also will be two continental qualifiers early next year, so this is not the last chance to make the Olympics.

Earlier, officials announced that heavyweight Ihab Al Matbouli of Jordan, who collapsed in the ring from fatigue during one of the final bouts Tuesday night, had rejoined his team after all tests taken at a Chicago hospital were negative.

Results:

48kg: Luis Yanez (US) bt Stephen Sutherland (AUS) RSC R2 1:42; Harry Tanamor (PHL) bt Sherlai Dostiev (TJK) +4-4 tiebreaker; Amnat Ruenroeng (THA) bt Zaleta Odilon de Jesus (MEX) 19-9; Zviad Kahduri (GEO) Hovhannes Danielyan (ARM) RSCOS R3 1:27; Georgiy Chygayev (UKR) bt Lukasz Maszczyk (POL) 26-13; Nordine Oubaal (FRA) bt Jose de la Nieve Linares (ESP) 33-12; Patrick Barnes (IRE) bt Kenji Ohkubo (JAP) 24-6; Shiming Zou (CHN) bt David Ayrapetyan (RUS) 23-6.

51kg: Raushee Warren (US) bt Violito Payla (PHL) 25-11; Somjit Jongjohor (THA) bt Mirat Sarsemayev (KZH) 17-8; Rafal Kaczor (POL) bt Omran Akbari (IRA) 17-13; Anurudha Rathnayake (SRI) bt Juan Vega (ECU) 26-19; Vincenzo Picardi (ITA) bt Katsuaki Susa (JAP) 24-14; Samir Mammadov (AZB) bt Anvar Yunusov (TAJ) 23-13; McWilliams Arroyo, Puerto Rico bt Bato-Munko Vankeyeu (BLS) 23-17; Georgy Balakshin (RUS) bt Jitender Kumar (IND) 14-9.

60kg: Alexey Tishchenko (RUS) bt Husnu Kocabas (NET) RSCOS R3 1:34; Pichai Sayota (THA) bt Uranchimeg Munkh-Erdene (MNG)) 21-13; Onur Sipal (TUR) bt Bkzod Khidirov (UZB) RSC R3 1:47; Frankie Gavin (ENG) bt Ramal Amanov (AZB) 21-10; Domenico Valentino (ITA) bt Eric Donovan (IRE) 29-12; Hrachik Javakhyan (ARM) bt Genebert Basadre (PHL) 17-6; Song Guk Kim (N KOR) bt Vazgen Safar-Yants (BLS) 19-18; Darley Perez (COL) bt Jai Bhagwan (IND) 16-7.—AP