Nguyễn Văn Đương poses with his 'Olympic ticket' earned at the Asia/Oceania Olympic boxing qualifying tournament in Jordan. Photo Nam Trung
HÀ NỘI — Nguyễn Văn Đương has become the fifth Vietnamese athlete to compete at the coming Tokyo Olympics this summer.
Đương won his berth after knocking down Chatchai Decha Butdee of Thailand in the Asia/Oceania Olympic boxing qualifying tournament early Tuesday morning (Hà Nội Time) in Amman, Jordan.
Đương needed only 47 seconds to floor Southeast Asian Games champion Butdee after series of punches to his head in the quarter-final match of the men’s featherweight (52-57kg) category at Prince Hamzah Hall.
It is his second KO result in Jordan. He also sent Australian Charlie Senior home after only 42 seconds in the first-round match.
Apart from a berth in the semi-finals, Đương also secures a slot at the Tokyo Games as per the rules of the event.
It was also sweet revenge for the Vietnamese who lost to Butdee in the SEA Games’ gold medal match last December.
“I was defeated by Butdee in the SEA Games final. Therefore, I was really happy when I successfully defeated him today,” said Đương.
“It is more special because the win also pushes me to the Olympics,” he said.
Đương will face Mohammad Abdelaziz Mohamm Alwadi of the hosts in the last-four round. Alwadi earlier won 5-0 over South Korean HaM Sangmyeong. The other semis will see No 1 seed Mirazizbek Mirzakhalilov of Uzbekistan versus Serik Temirzhanov of Kazakhstan.
Đương is the second Vietnamese boxer to compete in the Olympics, following Đặng Hiếu Hiền at the Seoul Games in 1988.
Việt Nam still have a hope in Nguyễn Mạnh Cường in the men’s light heavy (75-81kg) category, who will compete in a match later Tuesday.
Cường was ousted in the quarterfinals on Sunday but he had a chance when he fights Indian Sachin Kumar. The winners of two matches will advance to the final on Wednesday. The winner here will get an Olympic ticket.
Earlier, two Vietnamese female boxers Nguyễn Thị Tâm and Nguyễn Thị Hương, both were seeded No 3 in their classes were eliminated.
Prior to Đương, four Vietnamese Olympic qualifiers are swimmer Nguyễn Huy Hoàng, gymnast Lê Thanh Tùng and archers Đỗ Thị Ánh Nguyệt and Nguyễn Hoàng Phi Vũ. VNS