BUSAN, Oct 13: Featherweight Meherullah grabbed Pakistan’s solitary gold at the Asian Games, upsetting Kazakhstan’s Galib Jafarov Sunday.

Meherullah, after his victory over Jafarov who was a silver medallist at the Belfast world championships, said it was all down to “the help of my coach, and training.”

However, four other Pakistanis settled for silver medals after being beaten in their respective weight divisions.

Thailand, who won five boxing golds on home soil four years ago, got only one this time through Asian champion Somjit Jongjohor in the flyweight class.

Somjit, winner at the same weight class at the Asian championships in Malaysia earlier this year, used superior technique and experience to beat Pakistani teenager Nouman Karim, who was fighting as a light-flyweight until last year.

Utkirbek Haidarov, another Asian champion who also won a silver at the last world championships in Belfast last year, outclassed Pakistani middleweight Ahmad Ali Khan.

Sergey Mihaylov won the fifth Uzbek gold when he outclassed Asian champion Shaukat Ali of Pakistan.

Light-welterweight Nurzhan Karimzhanov took the second Kazakh boxing gold at the expense of Asghar Ali Shah of Pakistan.

The hosts won three titles, the Kazakhs two, while Thailand and Pakistan gained one apiece as the balance of power shifted to the two former Soviet republics. The former Soviets won the the five heaviest divisions, along with the featherweight gold.

South Korea’s super Kims earned the hosts three Asian Games boxing gold medals on Sunday, but Uzbekistan were overall champions by winning five.

“We are the best in Asia now,” Uzbek boxing official Alisher Kadirov told AFP after Asian champion and Sydney 2000 Olympics bronze medallist Rustam Saidov prevailed over super-heavyweight Mukhtarkhan Dildabekov of Kazakhstan to bring the tournament to a close.

Dildabekov, who also won a silver in Sydney, was the only reigning Asian Games champion who reached the final here.

Thai light middleweight Suriya Prasathinphimai was later outclassed by Kazakh Gennadiy Golovkin.

Gritty Kim Jung-Joo led the hosts’ challenge.

Following up his upset semifinal win over Asian champion Manon Boonjumnong of Thailand, he claimed the scalp of Sergey Rychko of Kazakhstan to win the welterweight title.

Kim nearly threw away a six-point lead after three rounds when he chose to slug it out with the Kazakh southpaw in the fourth. He won by a single point.

“I was too tired to run. I just followed the coach’s instructions to keep both my gloves up,” Kim told AFP.

Light-flyweight Kim Ki-Suk outpointed Harry Tanamor of the Philippines, while bantamweight Kim Won-Il upset Asian champion Bekzod Khidirov of Uzbekistan.

Teenager Dilshod Mahmudov began the Uzbeks’ charge by winning on points over South Korean lightweight Baik Jong-Sub.

Asian champion Ikrom Berdiev outpointed South Korean light-heavyweight Choi Ki-Soo.

The Philippines, the sixth country to send a fighter to Sunday’s finals, had to content themselves with one silver medal after the flyweight Tanamor injured his right hand early in the third round to lose his early points lead over Kim Ki-Suk.

“My hand started to hurt in the third round,” the southpaw said. “I accept the result,” he added.

The finals were a comparatively incident-free affair compared to the earlier rounds, which were rocked by protests and allegations of biased officiating in favor of the hosts and the Pakistanis.

South Korean trainer Oh In-Suk and South Korean boxing referee Kang Chang-Hoon were involved in separate scuffles with unidentified members of the crowd before the opening bell of the afternoon’s first fight, but the protagonists were later pacified with no serious injuries.

Results:

Light-flyweight (48kg)

Kim Ki-Suk (Kor) bt Harry Tanamor (Phi) pts 24-19

Bronze: Mekhrodj Umarov (Tjk), Suban Pannon (Tha)

Flyweight(51kg)

Somjit Jonghohor (Tha) bt Nouman Karim (Pak) pts 26-7

Bronze: Kim Tae-Kue (Kor), Zou Gang (Chn)

Bantamweight (54kg)

Kim Won-Il (Kor) bt Bekzod Khidirov (Uzb) pts 27-17

Bronze: Abdusalom Khasanov (Tjk), Talaibek Kadyraliev (Kgz)

Featherweight (57kg)

Meherullah (Pak) bt Galib Jafarov (Kaz) pts 26-21

Bronze: Yaser Shighan (Syr), Chen Tongzhou (Chn)

Lightweight (60kg)

Dilshod Mahmudov (Uzb) bt Baik Jong-Sub (Kor) pts 27-17

Bronze: Ruslan Mussinov (Kaz), Adnan Yusoh (Mas)

Light-welterweight (63.5kg)

Nurzhan Karimzhanov (Kaz) bt Asghar Ali Shah (Pak) pts 19-15

Bronze: Shin Myung-Hoon (Kor), Bahit Sarsekbaev (Uzb)

Welterweight (67kg)

Kim Jung-Joo (Kor) bt Sergey Rychko (Kaz) pts 31-30

Bronze: Manon Boonjumnong (Tha), Sherzod Husanov (Uzb)

Light-middleweight (71kg)

Gennadiy Golovkin (Kaz) bt Suriya Prasathinphimai (Tha) RSC 3rd rd

Bronze: Song In-Joon (Kor), Sirojiddin Naimov (Uzb)

Middleweight (75kg)

Utkirbek Haydarov (Uzb) bt Ahmad Ali Khan (Pak) RSC 3rd rd

Bronze: Moon Young-Seang (Kor), Baurzhan Kairmenov (Kaz)

Light-heavyweight (81kg)

Ikrom Berdiev (Uzb) bt Choi Ki-Soo (Kor) pts 25-19

Bronze: Monir Abukeshek (Ple), Aleksey Katulevsky (Kgz)

Heavyweight (91kg)

Sergey Mihailov (Uzb) bt Shaukat Ali (Pak) RSC 3rd rd

Bronze: Lee Hyun-Sung (Kor), Naser Alshami (Syr)

Super-heavyweight (over 91kg)

Rustam Saidov (Uzb) bt Mukhtarkhan Dildabekov (Kaz) pts 29-21

Bronze: Zhang Junlong (Chn), Mirza Muzafar Iqbal (Pak).—AFP