China wins two golds in Asian Games boxing
Host China bagged two gold medals in the 2010 Asian Games boxing competition on Thursday 26 November.
Female boxer Ren Cancan and super heavyweight Zhang Zhilei beat their respective opponents to give fans at the Foshan Gymnasium something to cheer for.
Ren, a policewoman by profession, beat equally tough Annie Albania of the Philippines in their thrilling duel in the women's 51kg division.
The Filipina scored the first point of the bout but Ren quickly retaliated and ended the first two minutes with a 2-1 lead. Albania, the Asian Indoor Games champion, tied the scores early in the second
but Ren scored three straight points to build a 5-2 advantage at the half-way stage.
Albania became more aggressive in the third as she pulled within 4-6 entering the fourth and final round. The Filipina trimmed Ren's lead to 5-6 with a minute remaining in the bout but the Chinese scored
one more solid blow to post a 7-5 victory.
"I was working hard to achieve this for so many years and today's medal has given me hope of winning gold at the 2012 London Olympics," Ren told
AsiaOne News. She also made history by becoming the first female athlete to win a gold in the Asian Games boxing competition.
Chungneijang Hmangte of India and Aya Shinmoto of Japan shared the bronze medals.
In the over-91kg class, Zhang overcame an early deficit and endured a cut around his eye to beat Kazakhstan's Ivan Dychko 7-5.
The Beijing Olympics silver medallist scored a knockdown early in the fight but the Kazakh ended the round with a 3-2 lead. Zhang eventually found his groove in the second and third rounds to keep his
opponent at bay.
"I didn't believe it when my coach told me I was losing after the first round. He told me to calm down and not be so nervous. After that, I attacked more, which turned out to work well," Zhang said.
Indian Paramjeet Samota and Iran's Roohollah Hosseini won the bronze.
It was not all joy for local fans, however, as two Chinese boxers lost their final bouts.
Chang Yong bowed to Filipino Rey Saludar 11-13 in the 52kg class while defending champion Hu Qing was upset by India's Krishan Vikas 4-5 in the 60kg category.
In other bouts, Serik Sapiyev of Kazakhstan defeated Uktamjon Rahmonov of Uzbekistan 9-3 in the 69kg class while another Uzbek Elshod Rasulov outpointed Indian Dinesh Kumar 10-4 in the 81kg final.
The second day of the boxing finals will be held on Friday featuring bouts in the men’s 49kg, 56kg, 64kg, 75kg and 91kg and women’s 60kg and 75kg categories.
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