Cubans, Russian continue to dominate in Olympic boxing

.c The Associated Press

ATHENS, Greece (AP) – Experienced teams from Cuba and Russia continued
to impress in Olympic boxing Saturday, with each country sending three
more fighters to the quarterfinals.

Cuba now has 10 boxers in the final eight, while Russia has nine.

Yan Bhartelemy Varela, Yuriorkis Gamboa Toledano and Yordani Despaigne
Herrera all won Saturday for Cuba, while Sergey Kazakov, Georgy
Balakshin and Gaydarbek Gaydarbekov advanced for Russia.

Despaigne will next face Andre Dirrell of the United States in the
75-kilogram category.

Though Americans haven’t fared well against Cuban boxers in the past,
Dirrell owns a win over Despaigne in the Olympic test event in Athens
in May.

“It doesn’t matter who I get in there with,” Dirrell said. “I just
follow my game plan.”

Also, Iraqi boxer Najah Ali lost his 48-kg bout to Aleksan Nalbandyan
of Armenia, ending the improbable run of Iraq’s only Olympic boxer
after just one victory.

Ali was outpointed 24-11 in the second-round match, but he still
provided a dramatic conclusion to his 10-month journey from a job in a
Baghdad furniture factory to the bright lights of Athens, where he
carried the flag of the reconstituted Iraq team.

The diminutive Ali struggled to reach his taller opponent while
falling behind in the first 2 1/2 rounds, but he then cut Nalbandyan’s
mouth with a punch. He spent the final round frantically attempting to
open the cut wide enough to get the Armenian fighter disqualified, but
was unsuccessful despite an exciting chase.

“I only needed one punch – one punch,” Ali said with a shake of his
head.

08/21/04 16:32 EDT