Albania smothers tall Kazakh, enters quarterfinals

GUANGZHOU – Annie Albania easily disposed of aggressive Kazakh rival Zhaina Shekerbekova with her superb counterpunching, fashioning out a 9-2 victory for a berth in the quarterfinals of the 16th Asian Games boxing competitions at the Foshan Gymnasium here yesterday.

Albania, a former world championship silver medalist, cut her tall Kazakh rival down to size with her technique and solid shots to reach the 48-51kg Final Eight and raise hopes for a good medal harvest by the Phl boxing team in the Games.

Rey Saludar earlier advanced to the semifinals in the men’s 52kg while Victorio Saludar and Wilfredo Lopez have made the quarters in the 46-49kg and 69kg classes, respectively.

Victorio Saludar, Lopez and Albania go for a semis berth at the resumption of the Asiad slugfest today.

The 28-year-old Filipina warrior fought patiently, attacking at the right time as she took control of the bout from start to finish.

“She fought her fight, choosing the right openings,” said Phl boxing executive director Ed Picson who led a small Filipino crowd that cheered for the Filipina.

“She has been looking sharp in training. Her division includes two world champs but I have fight in Annie,” Picson said.

India’s Chungneijang Hmangte, a four-time world titlist in the 48-under kg now fighting in a higher weight category, drew first round bye while China’s Ren Cancan, the reigning 48-51 kg world champ, hacked out an 8-1 win over Korea’s Euna Jang.

Albania is in the lower bracket, facing North Korea’s Kim Hye Song in the quarters.

Kim made the round of eight via an 8-4 conquest of Thai Peamwilai Laopeam.

Should Albania beat Kim, she faces either Vietnamese Thi Tuyet Nguyen or Japanese Aya Shimmoto in the semifinals.

Albania, gold medalist in the recent Asian indoor games, dominated Shekerbekova, holding the Kazakh scoreless in all but one round.

She took the opening round at 1-0 and made it 3-0 in the second before yielding two points to Shekerbekova in the third.

Holding a 5-2 lead after the third, Albania continued to punish Shekerbekova, starting the fourth with a point on a body blow then another point on a jarring left straight to the face, prompting the ref to give the Kazakh a standing eight count.

Albania came through with two more points in the last 30 seconds for the final count.