• 
• 

Published on November 2, 2007

On Wednesday, featherweight Sairom Ardee was the first to make the breakthrough by securing his place in the quarter-finals, which also meant a berth in the Beijing Games.

Veteran Somjit Jongjorhor, Amnaj Reanreong, Pichai Saiyotha and Nont Boonjumnong followed suit yesterday by roaring into the last eight with impressive victories.

It was a remarkable turnaround in fortunes for the Thai team after seeing their campaign get off to the worst possible start with the shock exit of Athens Olympic and 2006 Asian Games gold medallist Manus, the older brother of Nont, in the preliminary round.

Among the eight boxers fielded by Thailand, light flyweight Amnaj was believed to have had the least chance of making it, given the fact that he had taken up the sport during his time in prison barely two years ago.

Having made a remarkable debut in the King's Cup tournament earlier this year where his fairytale run into the final had an anti-climactic ending, Amnaj continued his fledgling career with a comfortable 19-9 win over Mexico's Zaleta Odilon.

"I boxed better today. But I was still a bit nervous. I'm delighted to realise my ultimate dream of making it to the Olympics. I will fulfil my vow to the late Luang Phor Sothorn by entering the monkhood after the SEA Games next month," said an elated Amnaj who will line up against an opponent from Armenia.

The prospect of flyweight Somjit making it to the Games was never in doubt. The

veteran, with only Olympic success eluding him, duly delivered the goods by out-boxing Marat Sarsembayev of Kazakhstan 17-8 to set up a final eight date with Poland's Rafael Kaczor.

"There should not be any problem against Kaczor. He was slow during his bout but I will not take anything for granted," said Somjit.

Lightweight Pichai

showed the same form that saw him finish runner-up in the tournament four years ago. He recovered from a

sluggish start before romping to a 21-13 win over Uranchimeg Munkh-Erdene of Mongolia.

A stern test awaits Pichai in the next round where he runs into Russian Alexey Tishchenko.

Welterweight Nont finished the Thai campaign with a flourish yesterday, emerging victorious from a tight fight against Andrey Balanov of Russia.

The fight was on a knife-edge with the score level at 12-12 at the end of the third round. Nont, however, displayed his talent in the final session to seal a hard-fought 16-12 victory. The Thai will face Canada's Adam Trupish in the next round.

The Nation