Eight Cubans in boxing semi-finals
21/08/2008 7:13 AM
Andris Laffita Hernandez and Emilio Correa Bayeaux both advanced to the Olympic Games semi-finals on Wednesday, ensuring eight Cubans will medal at the 2008 Olympic Games.
Laffita Hernandez cruised past Puerto Rico's McWilliams Arroyo Acevedo by an 11-2 margin in a flyweight bout. The silver medalist at the 2005 World Championships, Laffita Hernandez won each round of the quarter-final match-up.
The 30-year-old Laffita Hernandez will face Russian Georgy Balakshin, who defeated India's Jitender Kumar 15-11 in the quarter-finals.
Correa Bayeaux was not as dominant as his compatriot but still managed to record a 9-7 decision over Elshod Rasulov of Uzbekistan in the quarter-finals of the middleweight division.
The 22-year-old Correa Baybeaux, who won the bronze medal at the World Championships in 2005, was tied with Rasulov at the end of each of the first three rounds. Correa Baybeaux then rallied for a 4-2 win in the final round to pull out the victory.
Correa Baybeaux gets Vijender Kumar of India in the semi-finals. Kumar claimed a 9-4 victory over Ecuador's Carlos Gongora.
Eight Cubans have advanced to semi-finals, which guarantees them a medal to match the country's Olympic-best eight boxing medals during the 2004 Athens Games. They went on to win five gold medals in 2004.
Also advancing to the semi-finals in the middleweight division on Wednesday, Darren John Sutherland of Ireland defeated Venezuelan Alfonso Blanco Parra by an 11-1 margin and Great Britain's James Degale posted an 8-3 win over Bakhtiyar Artayev of Kazakhstan.
Italy's Vincenso Picardi edged Walid Cherif of Tunisia 7-5 and Thailand's Somjit Jongjohor cruised to an 8-1 victory over Anvar Yunusov of Tjikistan in other flyweight bouts on Wednesday.