China’s Wu Yu enjoyed an afternoon stroll to the first boxing gold of the Asian Games on Tuesday, then set her sights on winning an Olympic title in Paris.
Men’s flyweight world champion Hasanboy Dusmatov reached the semi-finals but told AFP that he was unhappy with a schedule that will force him to fight three days in a row to win gold.
In the final bout of the night, Tajikistan’s Davlat Boltaev won the first men’s gold with a controversial 3-2 split decision over China’s Han Xuezhen in the heavyweight (92kg) division.
It rounded off a pulsating day of action at Hangzhou Gymnasium as Han, who started slowly and was behind on points after the first two rounds, came roaring back in the final round.
The Chinese fighter rained blows on Boltaev, forcing him into a standing eight count.
At the bell the partisan Chinese crowd believed their man had done enough and there were jeers from the packed arena when Boltaev’s hand was raised in victory.
There were no such problems for Wu, who barely broke sweat and came away with a face completely unmarked after her women’s flyweight (50kg) final against Thailand’s Chuthamat Raksat.
All five judges scored it 30-27 in favour of the Chinese, who won the world championship in the non-Olympic 52kg weight class in Delhi earlier this year.
“It was as comfortable as it looked,” a smiling Wu told AFP. “But I am still not satisfied with my performance.”
Wu’s gold was the first of 13 in a boxing competition where not only medals are available, but also Olympic qualification for Paris next year.
There are 20 women’s berths available in six weight divisions and 14 places in seven divisions for the men.
Tight turnaround
“My focus now is on winning gold at Paris 2024,” said Wu.
“My main rival is myself. I will not be afraid of even the strongest rivals if I keep breaking through my limits and making myself stronger.
“I think it’s better to stay down to earth. I am only at the second stage now that I’ve got a ticket to the Paris Olympics.”
Amateur boxing great Dusmatov underlined his status as flyweight favourite with an easy quarter-final win.
The 30-year-old Uzbek will have less than 24 hours to recover before a semi-final against the slippery Japanese former world champion Tomoya Tsuboi, then faces a potential gold medal bout a day later on Thursday.
“It will be difficult because we have to lose weight for each bout, but generally I feel very good,” the 2016 Olympic gold-medal winner told AFP after cruising past Pakistan’s Zohaib Rasheed on a unanimous points decision.
Asked if he was unhappy with the tight schedule, he said: “Of course, because we can get injuries and it is difficult to be fully healthy for all these fights every day.
“We should have some time to recover and we don’t. I am a little bit upset about this.”
A showboating Tsuboi came through an entertaining last-eight bout against Nurzhigit Diushebaev with a 5-0 unanimous points decision, having floored the Kazakh with a big right hand.
“I’m sure I will beat the Japanese because I prepare differently for every opponent,” Dusmatov said of Tsuboi, who won the bantamweight (54kg) world title in 2021.
Dusmatov is yet to win an Asian Games gold after being shocked by India’s Amit Panghal in the 2018 final in Jakarta.
