China wins more gold in Asiad boxing
China won three more gold medals in the 2010 Asian Games boxing competition on Friday to emerge as the overall champion in the event.
Olympic champion Zou Shiming led the golden run by defending his title in the men's 49kg division. The two-time world champion overcame an early deficit to beat Kazakhstan's Birzhan Zhakypov 9-5 in one of the most thrilling fights on the final day of competition at the Foshan Gymnasium.
Zou was down by a point after the first round but stepped up his tempo in the second to take a 5-1 lead heading into the final round. The lead was enough to seal the win as the boxers scored four points each in the last three minutes of the bout.
Zou, the most be-medalled Chinese boxer in history, has now won two Asian Games golds to add to his two world championships titles and Olympic crown.
The Chinese women were also impressive as they swept all three golds at stake in their event, which was contested in the Asian Games for the first time.
Dong Cheng easily disposed of Tassamalee Thongjan of Thailand 13-4 in the 60kg class while Li Jinzi stopped Mongolian Undram Erdenesoyol in the final round of their 75kg showdown. The twin wins came a day after Ren Cancan won the 51kg to become the first female boxer to win a gold in the Asiad.
It was not all celebration for the Chinese, however, as Zhang Jiawei lost to Athens Olympics silver medallist Worapoj Petchkoom of Thailand 3-8 in the 56kg class.
In the other final events, Daniyar Yeleussinov of Kazakhstan dominated Santhosh Kumar of India 16-1 in the 64kg division while Beijing Olympics bronze medallist Vijender Singh of India outclassed Uzbekistan's Abbos Atoev 7-0 in the 75kg category.
The 91kg gold was won by Syria's Mohammad Ghossoun, who was too much for Indian Manpreet Singh 8-1.
China topped the competition with five golds, three silvers and two bronze medals. India finished second with a 2-3-4 harvest while Kazakhstan ranked third with a 2-2-2 production. Thailand (1-1-2), the Philippines (1-1-1) and Syria (1-0-1) were the other countries that won gold medals.
Mongolia (0-1-1), Iran (0-0-3), Japan (0-0-2), South Korea (0-0-2), North Korea (0-0-2), Nepal (0-0-1) and Tajikistan (0-0-1) also made it to the medal table.
The biggest disappointment in the competition was Mongolia, which won a gold and silver at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Traditional powerhouse South Korea, which almost failed to send a delegation to Guangzhou due to a strife between its national association and the AIBA, also failed to make its presence felt in the tournament.
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