China Daily 0811 C4.Indd

4 olympics SATURDAY, AUGUST 11, 2012 CHINA DAILY REPORTER’S LOG | Boxer Zou ready to defend his title MU QIAN You don’t need beat him 15-0 in the semifi nals in Bei- dreds of fans who mobbed the square bined for an all-out brawl, with Berin- Chinese star topples Irishman to jing, and the energetic Irish fighter of his hometown to watch the fi ght on chyk relentlessly pushing forward a ticket to get nearly knocked off the champ. Aft er televisions, doing a little shuffl e-step while Uranchimeg picked him apart advance to light fl yweight title match three rounds of strong exchanges, the move dubbed the Mullingar Shuffl e with hooks and counterpunches. Both in on action bout was scored level at 15-15, but by his coaches. fighters took numerous clean head By ASSOCIATED PRESS of a 29-21 victory. Berinchyk will face Zou edged Barnes on the countback “I think he kind of gave up a little shots, but Uranchimeg — who upset It was announced in Wembley Stadi- in London Cuba’s Roniel Iglesias in the fi nal. tiebreaker that tallies up a more com- halfway into the last round when he Britain’s Tom Stalker two days ago — um that 80,203 spectators were attend- Berinchyk will be joined in the fi nals plete total of punches landed. couldn’t get to me,” Nevin said. got caught with a combination and ing the London Olympics women’s Defending champion Zou Shiming by heavyweight teammate Oleksandr “I’m not going to cry about it,” said Campbell easily took care of Shi- a standing-eight count in the third soccer fi nal. of China narrowly advanced to anoth- Usyk, who trounced Bulgaria’s Tervel Barnes, a personable, popular fi ghter mizu to set up a rubber match with round. I was one of them. er gold-medal bout with a tiebreaker Pulev to earn a gold-medal bout. He’ll who spent much of time in the Olym- Nevin. Th e pair split two recent fi ghts, Berinchyk was relentless, record- I was lucky enough to have bought victory over Ireland’s Paddy Barnes on meet Italy’s Clemente Russo, who beat pic Village trying to take photographs including a meeting at the world ing another eight-count on the dazed the ticket online a week ago. Most of the Friday in the fi rst of 20 semifi nal fi ghts top-seeded Teymur Mammadov of with famous athletes. “He’s a world championships. Uranchimeg before fi nishing strong. games had been sold out months ago, in the Olympic boxing tournament. Azerbaijan in yet another hold-fi lled champion, and he got that for a rea- Campbell’s teammate, middle- Th e serious-faced Berinchyk then did and only a very small number of tickets Bantamweight John bout for two fighters whose styles son.” weight Anthony Ogogo, got knocked a joyful dance in the ring aft er advanc- were released aft er the Games started. Joe Nevin of Ireland don’t please many fi ght crowds. While this is Zou’s last Olympics, down and never got rolling in a 16-9 ing to face Iglesias, whose win over It was the United States versus Japan. stunned top-seeded Ukraine’s powerful team placed a Barnes said he wouldn’t mind coming loss to Esquiva Falcao, who will fi ght Italy’s Vincenzo Mangiacapre wasn’t I didn’t know which teams would face Lazaro Alvarez of Cuba tournament-high five boxers in the back in Rio, “unless someone off ers Ryota Murata for Brazil’s fi rst boxing nearly as entertaining. off when I bought the ticket. 19-14 to advance to the semifi nals, with lightweight champion me a million pounds”. gold medal. Falcao’s brother, Yamagu- Usyk had the best showing of the Nobody did. fi nal against Britain’s Luke Campbell, Vasyl Lomachenko and the rest fi ght- Zou will meet Thailand’s Kaeo chi, also reached the light heavyweight four fi ghters left in the holding-dom- Most people in the stadium were, who beat Japan’s Satoshi Shimizu ing Friday night. Th e Ukrainians are Pongprayoon in the final after his semifi nals. inated heavyweight division, where like me, from neither country. 20-11. distinctive for more than their boxing 13-12 win over Russia’s David Ayra- Murata, who rallied in the third many fi ghts have been booed by fans But the mood was electric. Ukraine light welterweight Denys acumen and those blue-and-yellow petyan. round to beat Uzbekistan’s Abbos bored with constant clinches and We applauded and screamed for Berinchyk and Mongolia’s Munkh- outfi ts: Both Berinchyk and Usyk cut Nevin had shockingly few problems Atoev 13-12, will attempt to win wrestling. Mammadov and Russo good performances from either side. Erdene Uranchimeg put on perhaps their hair into a chub, a traditional Cos- getting rid of the top-seeded Alvarez, Japan’s second Olympic boxing gold both advanced to the semifi nals aft er It was not uncommon for someone to the best fi ght of the tournament, with sack haircut featuring a shaved head who beat talented U.S. bantamweight medal — the first since the 1964 holding-plagued victories that drew wave a Japanese fl ag before cheering the relentless Berinchyk rallying from with one long, fl owing lock on top. Joseph Diaz Jr. in one of the tourna- Tokyo Games, when Takao Sakurai protests from the losers, but Beijing for a beautiful shot by the Americans. a second-round defi cit to score a jaw- Barnes hoped to bounce back from ment’s better fi ghts last week. Nevin won at bantamweight. silver medalist Russo was slightly bet- It was one of the most light-hearted dropping 17 points in the third round four years of embarrassment aft er Zou even showboated a bit for the hun- Berinchyk and Uranchimeg com- ter than the top-seeded Azeri. fi nals I’ve seen. When neither of the teams is from one’s home country, one becomes more focused on the beauty of the sport itself. Both teams did good jobs, although the US won 2-1. We gave a standing ovation to all the athletes at the award- ing ceremony, including the Canadi- ans, who got the bronze. The Olympic Games is a party of peace and love. Although this was the fi rst game I saw in person during London 2012, I had been watching live broadcasts on big screens in Hyde Park. As each athlete was introduced before a track and fi eld event, a group of people in the crowd would shout and cheer. I did so when Chinese com- petitors appeared onscreen. Even if you don’t have tickets, you can still get involved. On July 27, 2.9 million people par- ticipated in artist Martin Creed’s Work No 1197: All the Bells in a Country Rung as Quickly and as Loudly as Pos- sible for Three Minutes to herald the 2012 Olympic Games’ start. Th ere are also many free games, like the cycling road race, the race walk and the marathon. Th ey all happen in the streets of London and make the city a unique stage for athletes’ performances. On Sunday, the men’s marathon will be the last chance for everybody in London to see the Games without a ticket. I cheered for marathon runners in the streets of Beijing in 2008. It was one of my best memories from that Games. I’m going to relive that moment on Sunday. IVAN SEKRETAREV / ASSOCIATED PRESS Contact the writer at China’s Zou Shiming (right) is locked up with Ireland’s Paddy Barnes during their men’s semifi nal light fl yweight boxing match on Friday. [email protected] First Muslim woman referee Games: Coaches must at Olympic beach volleyball protect athletes, says Wei FROM PAGE 1 Th e former COC offi cial said Chi- By JIMMY GOLEN in London actions, not to be isolated,’’ she said. and T-shirts. nese sports offi cials should take more Associated Press “I’m proud. It will help lots of women, “After the changes, the reforms, Chinese officials questioned the responsibility to protect athletes from not only Muslim women.’’ women all over the world will be scoring system but were gagged from injuries. Th e dancers are dressed to titillate, In an Olympics with unprecedent- part of this,’’ El Sergany said. “We do appealing because rules stipulate exe- China’s superstar hurdler Liu Xiang and the players wear even less: bikinis ed participation by women, includ- not have any women players back in cution scores cannot be altered. unexpectedly bowed out of the 110m that reveal every movement of their ing the fi rst-ever female athletes from Egypt. But aft er the regulations, I will Wei said rules must be changed. hurdles because of an old Achilles muscles as they dig and dive for the Saudi Arabia, beach volleyball has try.’’ “It should be the responsibility of the tendon injury on Tuesday. Wei said it ball. been fi ghting the perception that its Wei knows that it will take years event’s governing body. Th ey should was a shame to let him compete while Amina El Sergany does not need a athletes are more about sex appeal for women just starting the sport to revise the rules to make them compat- injured. referee’s platform to be noticed on a than sport. Patiently tolerating the compete for spots in the Olympics, ible with the sport’s development and “Athletes will always fi ght to the end beach volleyball court.

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