BANGKOK, July 11: Promising Pakistan boxer Noman Karim finally bowed out of the world amateur boxing championships when he lost to Russia’s Serguei Kazakov in the light-flyweight semifinal on Friday.

Noman, an Asian Games silver medallist lost to Kazakov 23-4 which allowed the Russian to move into the final.

China’s Zou Shiming, the new kid on the boxing block, hustled his way into the light-flyweight final.

The 22-year-old Zou, whose previous best result was a silver medal in the 2001 East Asian Games in Japan, easily outpointed 2002 Asian Games runner-up Harry Tanamor of the Philippines 21-13.

The pencil-slim Chinese fighter employed the hit and move tactics that saw him cause the biggest upset of the world championships by downing titleholder Yan Varela Barteleny of Cuba in an earlier round.

Zou will take on Kazakov in the final of the lightest weight division (below 48g).

France’s Jerome Thomas, who beat the odds to develop into a leading boxer, and compatriot Willy Blain both clinched final spots on Friday.

Thomas, the defending flyweight champion who was born with a chest abnormality that took 15 operations to correct, again looked impressive in his 31-19 last-four victory over Alexandar Alexandrov of Bulgaria.

The red-headed Thomas will take on local favourite Somjit Jongjohor, the Asian Games champion, in what is tipped to be the most exciting of the 11 contests.

Somjit, who stands to lift incentive bonuses of two million baht (around 47,500 US dollars) from Thailand sports authorities if he wins the gold, beat Germany’s Rustan Rahimov 12-5 in a bout screened live on local television.

Blain, a bronze medallist at the 2001 world championships, reached the light welterweight final with a 25-13 victory over Tofik Ahmedov of Azerbaijan. He will take on Russias Alexandre Maletin, a 2000 Olympic Games bronze medallist in the lightweight division. Maletin was too good for Manus Boonjamnong of Thailand, winning 34-16

Thailand’s Pichai Sayotha, given little chance of success before the event, proved the critics wrong by reaching the lightweight final with a 40-26 victory over Germany’s Martin Dressen.

He will meet titleholder Mario Kindelan in the final after the Cubans 24-12 win over Kate Gyula of Hungary.

Cuba, which lifted seven out of 12 golds at the last championships, saw defending champions Kindelan, Lorenzo Aragon and Odlanier Fonte Solis reach the lightweight, welterweight and heavyweight finals respectively.

Superheavyweight Pedro Carrion became the fourth Cuban to reach a final when he outpointed Sebastien Koeber of Germany 26-18 in the last bout of the day.

Aragon defeated Andre Berto of the United States 25-15, a result that again raised eyebrows in the troubled American camp.

Solis will be fresh for his final showdown with Alexandre Alexseev of Russia. He was awarded a walkover after Viktar Zuyeu of Belarus withdraw with an injury.—AFP