Australia's Turkish Prime Ministry Tournament winner Claire Ghabrial is back on track at the 21st President's Cup, which is currently underway in Jakarta, Indonesia.
The 29-year-old fighter is one of the greatest Australian female hopes for the London Olympic Games because her lightweight class has been included in the Olympic program. Ghabrial used her experience from two AIBA World Championships to beat Indonesia's newcomer Dolince Sanadi by 21:4 in her opening contest at the President's Cup.
Philippines' national team member Josie Gabuco made an extremely successful start in the tournament by outpointing Nepal's National Champion Maya Chaudhary in the women's light flyweight class. The final score was an incredible 21:0 to Gabuco.
Despite being a light flyweight, Japan's rising star 18-year-old Naoya Inoue is a strong puncher. On his debut among the elite boxers he finished the contest against Pakistan's Muhamed Mohibullah before the final gong when the referee stopped the bout and Inoue advanced to the next round.
Malaysia's top boxer, Arafura Games winner and Southeast Asian Games silver medalist Mohammed Fuad Redzuan, is only 20 but has already fought in a number of international competitions. He needed this experience in his opener to beat Vietnam's Nguyen Kia Guen in a close contest which ended 6:5. The luckier Malaysian boxer will now face India's young Gaurav Bidhuri in the quarter-final.
Indonesia's Road to Milan member 23-year-old Julio Bria stopped Turkmenistan's Asian Youth Championships bronze medalist teenager Yakub Meredov in the third round of their flyweight preliminary contest.
Chhote Lal Yadav was awarded the best boxer trophy at the 2009 Indian National Championships and is one of the top favorites in Jakarta but had an unexpectedly close bantamweight opening contest against newcomer Rafli Langi of Indonesia, which he won 15:13.
Southeast Asian Games silver medalist 19-year-old Mathius Mandiangan is Indonesia's flag bearer in boxing and may be destined for great things on the international stage. The lightweight boxer eliminated Hong Kong's veteran Tso Sing Yeung by a large margin on his debut in Jakarta.
Japan's multiple national champion 25-year-old Ryota Murata's form is developing well and on his debut in Jakarta he shocked Russia's Anatoliy Klinkov in the third round of the contest with some great punches. The ringside doctor finished the middleweight bout due to an injury to the Russian boxer.
In the light heavyweight class Turkmenistan's two-time National Champion Rasul Yuldashev stopped local boxer Wallis Riripoy in the first round, while Korea's newcomer Yang Hee Guen eliminated Nepal's Asian Games bronze medalist Deepak Maharjan by 10:9 in the first preliminary round.
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