Brazil's WSB boxer and multiple National Champion Pedro Lima made a successful debut at the World Military Games in Rio de Janeiro.
The 28-year-old boxer moved up a weight class after the 2009 AIBA World Championships where he was defeated by Hungary's European Champion Balazs Bacskai. Lima had some successes at the World Series of Boxing as well and his major target is to gain a quota place for the London Olympic Games.
The veteran boxer's debut was excellent at the World Military Games where he finished his contest before the final gong against Korea's Jee Deok Seong when he led the bout by 4:1. He can expect another great battle because his next opponent will be European Championships quarter-finalist Peter Mullenberg of the Netherlands for the medal.
Former AIBA Youth World Champion and Asian Championships silver medalist Nanao Thokchom Singh of India returned to the world of rings this year. The 20-year-old Indian boxer defeated Dominican Republic's Juan Gabriel Medina by 20:18 and will be facing China's AIBA World Championships bronze medalist Li Jiazhao of China, putting the category's two best fighters head-to-head in the early stages of the event in the light flyweight quarter-final.
The best flyweight fight was held between the two confederation champions: India's Commonwealth Games winner Suranjoy Mayengbam Singh and Algeria's African Champion Samir Brahimi. After six minutes their battle was equal 8:8 but finally it was the Indian boxer who landed the last scoring the last punch to win the hectic fight by 12:11.
Syria's Asian Games bronze medalist Wessam Salamana returned to his original bantamweight division and his performance was more than enough in the preliminary round against Guinea's veteran Mamadou Sanou Bah. Their unequal contest's verdict was 24:2 to the Syrian boxer who will be fighting against Vittorio Parrinello of Italy for the medal.
Algeria's Olympic Games quarter-finalist and African Champion Abdelkader Chadi is one of the biggest favourites in the lightweight class and his easy victory over Beijing Olympian Alessio Di Savino of Italy is not a surprise. The 25-year-old Algerian will face Driss Khallouk of Morocco in the next round.
Brazil's spearhead 23-year-old Everton Lopes is the light welterweight's class main gold medal contender and on the long road to the gold he eliminated Germany's AIBA World Championships competitor Artur Schmidt by a large margin of points and can expect a real battle against Kazakhstan's WSB boxer Merey Akshalov in the quarter-final.
France's Beijing Olympic Games bronze medalist Alexis Vastine is on top form in Rio de Janeiro. He advanced to the quarter-final after beating Korea's Kim Chun Suk by 17:4. Vastine's next fight will be against Tunisia's Aymen Mejri who triumphed over Chyngyz Berdybekov of Kazakhstan.
Light heavyweight Elber Passos was the first Brazilian boxer to be eliminated by an opponent in the Games. The local athlete had a chance to beat Felix Manuel Valera of the Dominican Republic but failed in the last three minutes of the bout. In the same weight division top favourites such as WSB boxer Abdelkader Bouhenia of France and European Cup silver medalist Ainar Karlson of Estonia won their contests.
Syria's Asian Games winner Mohammad Ghossoun is the top favourite in the heavyweight class and booked a victory for his country as expected. The Syrian boxer defeated Estonia's 19-year-old Rain Karlson by 8:3 and will be fighting against Serhiy Melnik of Ukraine in their medal bout.
China's AIBA World Championships Xinjiang-based Yushan Nijiati moved up into the super heavyweight class this year. The 25-year-old Chinese boxer stopped newcomer Sergio Faria of Suriname in the first round and will be fighting against Ireland's powerful Tommy Sheehan in the quarter-final.
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