BUSAN, Oct 12: Asian Games boxing headed into Sunday’s gold medal round following a black day for Thailand and a blackeye for the sport with two fighters left sobbing after losing on controversial decisions.

The semifinals ended in uproar on Saturday with 20-year-old Syrian heavyweight Naser Alshami bawling in his corner, a section of the gallery jeering and shouting at the judges, and with Asian champions Suban Pannon and Manon Boonjumnong of Thailand being eliminated.

Referees controversially stopped the two last-four fights, awarding victories to Pakistani middleweight Ahmed Ali Khan and heavyweight Shoukat Ali.

They ruled that Alshami and Khan’s South Korean foe had been outclassed.

The hosts were also furious after officials rang the bell to eliminate middleweight Moon Young-Seang.

The 21-year-old Moon fell on his back on the canvas crying and while one of his coaches slammed his chair below the South Korean corner, the other screamed at Kazakh referee Serik Akashev.

World amateur boxing supremo Anwar Chowdhry upheld the controversial verdicts while flatly rejecting suggestions that his two Pakistani countrymen had been given easy passage to the finals.

He said the fights were stopped under a rule that says a fighter must be declared a winner if he piles up a 15-point differential against his foe within a round.

“If there’s a 15-point difference the bout stops,” Chowdhry told reporters.

“We introduced this to save the boxer from too much punishment.”

Officials earlier threw out Uzbekistan’s protest over light middleweight Sirojiddin Naimov’s loss to Thailand’s Suriya Prasathinphimai in a Friday semi-final.

“The referee was justified. The boy was being beaten like a goonie bag,” Chowdhry said.

He said the South Koreans and Syrians did not lodge protests Saturday.

Sunday’s finals see just six countries contesting the 12 boxing golds.

Harry Tanamor of the Philippines dethroned Thailand’s light flyweight champion Pannon to earn a shot at the gold against Kim Ki-Suk, one of five South Korean finalists.

“This is a fantastic result for us because we broke Thailand’s momentum,” Tanamor’s trainer Nolito Velasco told AFP. “For several years now, they’ve had our number.”

Asian champion Manon, 20, was also upset by South Korean welterweight Kim Jung-Joo, getting knocked down in the third round before losing by 15 points.

“He lost. It was a fair decision,” said the Thais’ Cuban trainer Ismael Salas.

He said Manon was slow to get into groove, and that he suffered from “so much pressure”. Thailand’s boxing fans see him as an Olympic gold medal prospect.

The loss meant only two Thais - flyweight Somjit Jongjohor and Prasathinphimai - will be fighting for gold on Sunday.

Utkirbek Haydarov, silver medallist at the world championships in Belfast last year, led six Uzbeks into the finals by outpointing Baurzhan Kairmenov of Kazakhstan.

His rival for the gold will be Khan, one of five Pakistanis into the finals.

Lightweight Ruslan Mussinov, one of five Kazakh finalists, faces Uzbek Dilshod Mahmudov who ended Malaysian hopes by outpointing Asian champion Adnan Yusoh.—AFP