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Chinese boxers aim gold in Athens
Chinese boxers aim to win one gold medal at the Athens Olympic Games, the Chinese national boxing team's head coach Li Qingsheng said at the 2004 Athens Olympic boxing qualifying tournament for Asia Tuesday. In the semifinals of the tournament, Chinese Ha Nati outpowered Shamiev Alisher of Tajikistan in the 69kg class, while his compatriots Liu Yuan and Hada Baterer defeated Indian Diwakar Prasad and Benny Elopere of Indonesia in the 54kg and 75kg classes respectively. All the three Chinese thus qualified for the Athens Olympic Games. "After taking three more berths for Athens, we felt more confidence of winning one medal in the Athens Olympic Games, a gold medal will be perfect for us," said coach Li. Before the tournament, China has secured two Olympic berths through Zou Shiming in 48kg class and Lei Yuming in 81kg category. "Zou and Lei won the qualification last year and that was a bigboost to our morale," Li said. Li thought that China is likely to win a medal from light categories and Zou, silver medalist at last year's world championships, is the odds-on hopeful for the gold medal in Athens. "Zou is very fast and powerful. He is our gold medal hopeful inAthens," added Li. The on-going tournament has attracted more then 400 athletes and officials from 29 countries and regions. China is competing in nine of the 11 categories. Only three Chinese boxers competed in the Sydney Olympics, and Jiang Tao finished fifth in the 91kg class at the 1996 Games in Atlanta, the best peformance for Chinese boxers. |
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