China secure first ever Olympic boxing medal
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-08-25 08:37

Light flyweight Zou Shiming achieved a historic breakthrough for Chinese boxing as he beat his Armenian opponent on points 20-12 here Tuesday to secure the first ever Olympic boxing medal for his country at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.

With rapid attacks and extremely flexible paces, the 23-year- old Zou outclassed Aleksan Nalbandyan of Armenia in the four-round quarterfinal match to book a berth in the semifinals of the 48kg category.

As the losers of semifinals share bronze medal at Olympic boxing tournament, Zou has secured at least one bronze medal for China, the best ever result for Chinese boxers at the Olympic Games.

"I can't say anything to you now as I am just watching the match of my opponent in the semifinals," said Zou when Xinhua reached him via mobile phone.

In the semifinals scheduled for Aug. 27, Zou will take on Cuban boxer Varela Yan Bhartelemy, who beat South Korean Hong Moo Won 30- 11 on points in another quarterfinal match.

"We have aimed at a major breakthrough at this Olympic Games, but we didn't give much pressure to ourselves," said Li Qingsheng, head coach of the Chinese boxing team.

"Therefore, Zou played all his matches in a fairly relaxed manner and fully displayed his strength," Li added.

Though the Armenian boxer played quite well in the previous rounds, Zou felt he was quite sure of beating him after "some careful analysis of his techniques", said Li.

Zou established an early lead 4-1 in the first round and had since well controlled the match. He was 9-3 ahead at the end of the second round and 15-6 at the end of the third.

Zou, a native of Zunyi city, Guizhou Province in southwest China, was a silver medalist in light flyweight at the 2003 world boxing championships in Bangkok.

Zou had defeated Rau Shee Warren of the United States and Endalkachew Kebede of Ethiopia to reach the quarterfinals.

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