CHINA WINS 1ST OLYMPIC BOXING GOLD
by Ronnie Nathanielsz

China won its first gold medal in Olympic boxing history when 27 year old light flyweight Zou Shiming lived up to his billing as pre-tournament favorite when his opponent - Mongolia’s Serdamba Purevdorj quit with a recurring shoulder injury 19 seconds into round two.

Zou who won the gold medal at the World Championships in Chicago easily defeating the Philippines HarryTanamor `17-3 was leading 1-0 when his Mongolian opponent walked to his corner complaining that he couldn’t raise his hand because of the pain, forcing his corner to throw in the towel.

Tanamor, the only Filipino boxer to qualify for the Olympics and who was ranked No. 3 in pre-boxing forecasts lost in a disappointing performance in his opening bout to Manyo Plange of Ghana who in turn was beaten in his next fight.

Zou who won a bronze medal at the Athens Olmpics four years ago was awarded the victory amidst the defeaning roars from a partisan crowd.

Zou draped himself in the Chinese flag after winning the hosts’ 50th gold medal of the Beijing Games and burst into tears during the medal ceremony.

Zou said later “I did not cry four years ago when I got the bronze but I told myself, when you get gold, you can cry.I wanted to go out there and put on a good show for everybody but the main thing is getting this gold.”

In other gold medal bouts a noisy Mongolian was later given something to cheer about when with Badar-Uugan Enkhbat also gave Mongolia its first Olympic boxing title by comfortably outpointing Cuba’s Yankiel Leon.

The 23 year old world championship silver medalist was on top throughout the bout and won a 16-5 victory points decision to leave Cuba which appeared to be dominant earlier on facing the sad prospect of having to leave the Games without a boxing gold.

The superpower in amateur boxing went to Beijing with their least-experienced squad in years after being hit by a string of defections. Ultimately the Cuban’s last hope was Carlos Banteaux who was scheduled to appear in the welterweight final later on Sunday.