Hong Kong’s hopes of an Olympic boxer representing the city at the Tokyo Games later this year took a hit at the start of the eight-day qualifying tournament in Amman, Jordan when two of the five-strong team were eliminated after their opening bout.
Hong Kong’s Kan Leong-tai was quickly overpowered by Australia’s Kirra Ruston in the men’s middleweight division.
The referee stepped in to stop the fight one minute and 16 seconds into the second of three three-minute rounds with Kan under heavy pressure from his tall, rangy opponent after a punishing first round.
Ruston’s reward for his opening victory is a last-16 clash with top seed and heavy favourite Eumir Marcial of Philippines.
“We stuck to a good game plan and it worked out,” said Ruston after his easy victory over Kan. “I’m looking forward to [facing Marcial], trading gloves with the best in the world.”
On Wednesday, welterweight Chan Ka-wa became the second Hong Kong boxer to be eliminated in Jordan when he was on the end of a one-sided beating from New Zealand’s Dominic Roe.
Roe dominated all three rounds in their match-up and Chan was lucky to make it to the end of the bout before the unanimous judges’ decision went against him.
The experienced Roe now faces top seed Bobo-Usmon Baturov of Uzbekistan in his second fight.
Hong Kong’s remaining hopefuls are in action on Saturday.
Former unbeaten professional Rex Tso Sing-yu, who received a bye through the first round of fights, is the SAR’s best hope. The featherweight meets Tajikstan’s Bakhtovar Sagizov in the morning session in Amman.
Tso requires just two wins to qualify for Tokyo but could face top seed Mirazizbek Mirzakhalilov of Uzbekistan in the quarter-finals.
Hong Kong’s other hopes are in the hands of flyweight Kenneth Tam Chun-hin, who was also handed a bye into the second round. He fights Australia’s Alex Winwood in Saturday’s evening session. And women’s flyweight Winnie Au Yin-yin, who meets Philippines’ Irish Magno, also on Saturday evening.
Jordan is hosting the second leg of the “Boxing Road to Tokyo” series.
Three more qualifying events will be held in London (European qualifier, March 14-24), Buenos Aires (Americas qualifier, March 26-April 3) and a final Paris world repechage qualifier (May 13-20).
This year’s Olympics will see 186 male and 100 female boxers fight it out in Tokyo.