BOXING – BAHRAIN’S Ali Abdalla punched his ticket to the round of 16 yesterday in the men’s 70kg category of boxing at the 20th Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan.
Abdalla secured his spot in the next stage with a split-decision victory against Bayramdurdy Nurmuhammedov of Turkmenistan at Nishio Gymnasium.
Fighting out of the blue corner, Abdalla registered a third-round knockdown and was awarded the fight by four of the five judges, who scored 29-28 in his favour. The other judge scored the bout 30-27 for Nurmuhammedov.
Abdalla will next trade jabs in the last 16 with Shamsher Saidov from Tajikistan, who had a bye in the preliminary phase. Their bout is scheduled for Thursday at 1.15pm, Bahrain time.
Abdalla is one of five Bahraini boxers at this year’s Asiad. The others are Maryam Khamis in the women’s 54kg weight category, where she will begin her campaign on Friday; Omar Budhahei in the men’s 60kg division, which starts tomorrow; Hamsa Vogel in the men’s 80kg category, also beginning tomorrow; and Jorge Luis Lobaina in the men’s 90kg, which gets underway on Saturday.
The kingdom’s medal hopefuls are being guided by boxing national team head coach John Conlan and assistant coach Mohammed Naseem. Bahrain’s boxers are aiming to step onto the podium for the first time ever in the history of the Asian Games.
Bahrain made their boxing debut in the previous edition of the quadrennial Olympic Council of Asia spectacle, held in 2022 in Hangzhou, China.
Two fighters flew the kingdom’s flag then, including Danis Latypov in the men’s over-92kg class, where he made it into the quarter-finals, and Azat Makhmetov in the men’s 51kg division, where he bowed out of contention in the round of 32.
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