Nguyen Van Duong poses with his 'Olympic ticket' earned at the Asia/Oceania Olympic boxing qualifying tournament in Jordan (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – BoxerNguyen Van Duong has become the fifth Vietnamese athlete qualified for the coming Tokyo Olympics this summer.
Duong won his berth afterknocking down Chatchai Decha Butdee of Thailand in the Asia/OceaniaOlympic boxing qualifying tournament early March 10 morning (Hanoi time) inAmman, Jordan.
He needed only 47 seconds tofloor Southeast Asian Games champion Butdee after series of punches to his headin the quarter-final match of the men’s featherweight (52-57kg) category atPrince Hamzah Hall.
It is his second knock-outresult in Jordan. He also sent Australian Charlie Senior home after only 42seconds in the first-round match.
Apart from a berth in thesemi-finals, Duong also secured a slot in the Tokyo Games as per the rules ofthe event.
It was also sweet revenge forthe Vietnamese who lost to Butdee in the SEA Games’ gold medal match lastDecember.
Duong will face MohammadAbdelaziz Mohamm Alwadi of the hosts in the last-four round. Alwadi earlier won5-0 over South Korean HaM Sangmyeong. The other semis will see No 1 seedMirazizbek Mirzakhalilov of Uzbekistan versus Serik Temirzhanov of Kazakhstan.
Duong is the second Vietnameseboxer to compete in the Olympics, following Dang Hieu Hien in the Seoul Gamesin 1988.
Vietnam also pinned a high hopeon Nguyen Manh Cuong in the men’s light heavy (75-81kg) category, who willcompete in a match later on March 10.
Cuong was ousted in thequarterfinals on March 8 but he had a chance when he fights Indian SachinKumar. The winners of two matches will advance to the final on March 11. Thewinner will get an Olympic ticket.
Earlier, two Vietnamese femaleboxers Nguyen Thi Tam and Nguyen Thi Huong, both were seeded No 3 in theirclasses were eliminated from the tournament.
Before Duong, four VietnameseOlympic qualifiers are swimmer Nguyen Huy Hoang, gymnast Le Thanh Tung and archersDo Thi Anh Nguyet and Nguyen Hoang Phi Vu./.
VNA
