S Korean boxers follow strange pre-game rituals

Sydney: Unwashed, sexually abstinent, solitary and reluctant to cut their fingernails -- that is what some of the South Korean boxers are like before a fight, according to their Olympic biographies.

"Not taking a shower has grown into a habit with me," declares light-flyweight Kim Ki-Suk, nicknamed 'Grasshopper', in the superstitions, rituals, beliefs section.

Welterweight Bae Jin-Suk says he can't "meet a girl" before a fight. If he does, he usually loses.

Intriguingly, he lost his opening bout on Saturday.

So too did bantamweight Cho Suk-Hwan, completely outclassed in three rounds, who extends the ban on women to two weeks. Light-welterweight Hwang Sung-bum, who has yet to appear in the ring, says a day is enough.But he adds that he never cuts his fingernails.

"I have formed a habit of walking alone," says flyweight Kim Tai-Kyu. Light-middleweight Song In-Joon lists his pre-fight ritual, obviously some time before he is gloved up, as "a bad habit of biting my nails".

Featherweight teammate Park Heung-Min says he does not cut his fingernails in the two weeks before a fight.

The Koreans are not the only superstitious ones.

Greek lightweight Tigkran Ouzlian has special socks and Kazakhstan's Bulat Jumadilov says he does not like to talk to stupid people before a competition.

Flyweight Arlan Lerio of the Philippines meanwhile has a remarkable ability to turn pain into profit.

"When my head aches, I know I will win," he says.



(c) Reuters Limited.