1st AIBA World Cup Moscow 2008 Official Tournament Page

The AIBA World Cup Moscow 2008 opened on Wednesday amongst spectacular scenes at the Megasport Sport Palace in Moscow, Russia where the first 48 of the world's best boxers did battle in the quarterfinals of AIBA's end-of-year event which culminates with finals on Sunday.

The quarterfinals for the 48kg, 54kg, 60kg, 69kg, 81kg and +91kg divisions were held with most of the favourites advancing through to Saturday's semifinals.

Pic: Toureano Johnson of the Bahamas (in blue) lost 16:5 to Germany's Jack Culcay-Keth in the 69kg quarterfinals

The 48kg division saw Olympic Games bronze medallist Yampier Hernandez Gonzalez beat Russian 19-year-old Belik Galanov 11:9 while AIBA President's Cup champion and AIBA World Championships Chicago 2007 silver medallist Harry Tanamor of the Philippines confirmed his semifinal spot by beating Tajikistan's Murodjon Rasulov 8:4.

"That was a good start," 31-year-old Tanamor said after his victory. "I'm happy to start the tournament well but for the moment I'm not getting my expectations up too high as I'm only taking one contest at a time."

One of the day's few surprises however was the elimination of 48kg Olympic Games silver medallist  Serdamba Purevdorj from Mongolia after he lost heavily 13:5 to Birzhan Zhakypov of Kazakhstan.

Meanwhile, 54kg world champion Sergey Vodopyanov of Russia outclassed Hoorshid Tojibaev of Uzbekistan 13:7 to book a semifinal showdown with Olympic Games bronze medallist Veaceslav Gojan after the Moldavian beat World Military Championship winner Rahim Najafov of Azerbaijan 15:7 in the quarterfinals.

On the other side of the 54kg draw, Indian Commonwealth Games champion Akhil Kumar comfortably beat Germany's Marcel Schneider 15:6 and will face Olympic silver medallist Yankiel Leon Alarcon from Cuba in the semis after the 26-year-old beat Botswana's Khumiso Ikgopoleng 7:0.

Pic: Botswana's Khumiso Ikgopoleng (in red) failed to register a point against Cuba's Olympic silver medallist Yankiel Leon Alarcon in the 54kg quarterfinals

"The score didn't really reflect the contest because I fought very well but just didn't quite get the scoring punches," Ikgopoleng said. "I'm very proud to be participating in this tournament not only representing Botswana but Africa as well. It is a privilege to be here and I can hold my head up high knowing I competed with the world's best."

Meanwhile, the 60kg world champion Albert Selimov booked himself a semifinal date with Puerto Rican national champion Gonzalez Pedraza after a 7:5 win over his compatriot Sergey Shigashev. Pedraza, 19, beat the experienced Romanian Georgian Popescu 8:2.

Also advancing through to the semifinals was 69kg Olympic silver medallist Carlos Banteaux Suarez who beat Russian World Military champion Dmitriy Ivanov 14:2, and will now meet Germany's Jack Culcay-Keth, who beat Olympic Games quarterfinalist Toureano Johnson of the Bahamas 16:5.

"My preparation wasn't as good as it could have been but I'm pleased to have performed as well as I did," Johnson, 24, said. "It is an honour to be here and to be representing my country at such a prestigious event. I'll now throw my full support behind the rest of the Central Americans participating and hope they do well."

Amongst the other confirmed semifinalists is 81kg world champion Abbos Atoev (UKR), while Olympic Games +91kg silver medallist and AIBA World Championships Chicago 2007 bronze medallist Zhang Zhilei of China was bundled out by rising Cuban star Robert Alfonso Acea. The "Great Wall of China" was visibly tired from what has been an action packed year for the 110kg southpaw and went 4:1 to one of Cuba's brightest young stars.

Pic: The experienced Harry Tanamor of the Philippines
 
Thursday will see more quarterfinal action with the 51kg, 57kg, 64kg, 75kg and 91kg divisions in action including 57kg Olympic champion and Val Barker Trophy winner Vasyl Lomachenko from the Ukraine in action against 2008 President's Cup champion Bakhodirjon Sultanov of Uzbekistan in a rematch from the 2008 Olympic Games second round which Lomachenko won 13:1. Day two action begins at 16:00.