Brunei pugilists at Olympics boxing qualifier
By Rosli Abidin Yahya

Two boxers from Brunei Darussalam joined some 180 pugilists from 33 countries in the 2nd Asian Qualifying Tournament for the Athens Olympics, which commenced yesterday in Guangzhou, China. Success for the two Bruneians is not expected, as they will be up against the best amateur boxers from Asia.

Tajikistan, Chinese Taipei, Iraq and Kyrgyzstan, with their maximum quota of ten boxers each, will join Afghanistan (4), Brunei (2), Hong Kong (2), Indonesia (6), India (6), Iran (9), Iraq (10), Jordan (4), Japan (8), Kazakhstan (9), South Korea (4), Kuwait (4), Laos (4), Lebanon (1), Malaysia (4), Macau (4), Mongolia (8), Philippines (4), North Korea (4), Qatar (3), Sri Lanka (9), Syria (9), Thailand (7), Turkmenistan (8), Uzbekistan (6), Vietnam (5), Yemen (1) and hosts China (9) in vying for honours.

Asia has a total quota of 64 berths for the Athens Olympic Games. 24 of those berths had been filled by winners in the first qualifiers while another 20 berths are at stake from the Guangzhou qualifiers.

Finalists - gold and silver medallists - in nine weight categories from light-flyweight to light-heavyweight, and gold medallists in the heavyweight and super-heavyweight categories will qualify for the Olympiad.

Boxers for the remaining 20 berths will be selected in the third Qualifying Tournament to be held in Karachi, Pakistan in May.

Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin