SALUDAR ONE WIN AWAY FROM QUALIFYING FOR LONDON OLYMPICS
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 03 Oct 2011
Rey Saludar.
2010 Guangzhou Asian Games flyweight gold medalist Rey Saludar is just one win away from qualifying for the 2012 London Olympics.
Saludar put on a dominating performance against Tajikistan?s 2010 World Combat Games silver medalist, 19 year old Safoviddin Yusufi in a top sixteen bout to score a handsome 28-12 win at the World Boxing Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Saludar started off aggressively and took the opening round 8-5 before turning up the heat in round number two to hammer Yusufi with telling punches to race to a 22-9 lead at the end of the second round which he won 14-4 before coasting to a 6-3 win in the third for a final 28-12 count.
It was a far cry from Saludar?s performance in his previous bout when he eked out a 21-20 win over Canadian Kelly Lally.
In that bout against Lally Saludar took the opening round comfortably by a 9-6 margin but the Canadian fought back in round two where the score was tied at 6-6 which effectively protected Saludar?s three point lead entering the third and final round.
Lally fought desperately to try and salvage the win in the third and final round but fell just short, winning by a two point margin 8-6 for a final 21-20 count in favor of the Filipino.
In the Guangzhou Asian Games last year, Saludar won the gold medal beating China?s Chang Yong in the finals 13-11. Yusfi, on the other hand lost in the finals to China?s superstar Zou Shiming 7-1 in the finals.
In the last Asian Confederation Boxing Championships Saludar lost in the semi finals to tough Ilyas Suleimenov of Kazakhstan 30-17.
AIBA reported that Yusufi was the first "Road to Baku" boxer to advance to the next preliminary round against Saludar after beating Vietnam's only competitor, President's Cup silver medalist Nguyen Van Hai by 4:3 after the first three minutes and finally winning against his Southeast Asian rival by a 12:9 margin.
Another Olympic hopeful, light flyweight Mark Anthony Barriga, the littlest man on the Philippine team faces a formidable foe in Ireland?s highly fancied Patrick ?Paddy? Barnes in their second round clash tonight.
A victory by Barriga, just like Saludar, will put him just one win short of a berth in the 2012 London Olympic Games.
Barriga faces a redoubtable challenge against Barnes who won Ireland's first medal of the 2010 Olympic Games in Guangzhou, China where he was beaten by Zou Shiming 15-0 in the semi finals despite claims that replays showed some of Barnes landed punches counted as points for the hometown favorite Zou.
Barnes had defeated Poland?s Lukasz Maszczyk in the quarter finals 11-5.
The light flyweight was beaten in the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Australia by Swaziland?s Simanga Shiba in the quarter finals. In 2007 he suffered an eye injury in the European Union Championships which stopped him from winning a medal.
However, later that year Barnes competed at the Commonwealth Federation Championships and won a gold medal beating India?s Nanao Singh in the finals.
Barnes met Zou Shiming for the first time at the World Boxing Championships in Chicago in 2007 and lost in the quarter finals by a huge 8-22 margin after scoring an impressive 24-6 victory over Japan?s Kenji Ohkubo in the round of 16.
At the 2010 European Amateur Boxing Championships in June, Barnes won the gold medal beating Elvin Mamishazade of Azerbaijan 4-1 in the finals. He also won the gold medal at the Delhi Commonwealth Games last year defeating Namibia's Jafet Uutoni 8-4 in the finals.
Barriga got off to a rousing start in Baku when he beat fancied Stefan Caslarov of Romania 12-5 banking on quick and accurate combinations against his taller opponent who tried to frustrate the 18 year old Filipino by pushing a shoving him which didn?t work.
Caslarov who competed in the 2010 International Youth tournament in Ukraine lost to eventual gold medalist Salman Alizada of Azerbaijan and was also ousted in the second round of the AIBA Youth World Championships.
Barriga who hails from Panabo, Davao del Norte raced to a comfortable 6-2 lead at the end of the first round and pulled away 9-3 in the second before wrapping up his first win 12-5.
Barriga scored a stunning upset over hometown favorite Shahobiddin Zoirov 4-1 to win the gold medal in the Sydney Jackson Memorial tournament in Uzbekistan last May.
In the last AIBA World Youth Championships Barriga lost to Barnes? teammate Ryan Burnett 6-4 in the quarter finals after beating China?s Liang Zhang 7-3, Tanes Ongjunta of Thailand 15-5 and Nikita Fedorchenko of Russia in the round of 16, 3-1.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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