Thailand pugilist knocks Yugoslavia out

Sydney: Thai welterweight Parkpoom Jangphonak ended Yugoslavia's involvement in the Olympic boxing tournament on Saturday after the closest fight of the opening session.

Jangphonak won 55-37 on a secondary count after battling back to a 9-9 draw in their first round fight.

Yugoslavia's Geard Ajetovic had been 2-1 up after the first round and 7-4 ahead after the second.

But the tall Jangphonak, cheered on by an excited Thai contingent in the crowd, pulled back to 7-7 at the end of the third and led 8-7 in the final round before allowing his opponent to land two good punches with a minute to go.

He quickly landed the equalising blow and secured his passage to the second round after averaging out the total number of blows registered by the five judges for each fighter.

Ajetovic, whose country won boxing gold medals in both the 1980 and 1984 Olympics before fragmenting, was the only Yugoslav in the competition.



(c) Reuters Limited.