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Published on January 30, 2008

Having secured a safe passage into the semi-finals of the Asian Olympic qualifying tournament yesterday, Athens Olympics gold medallist Manus Boonjum-nong has already set his sights on creating history in Beijing.

With two other Thais, bantamweight Worapoj Petchkum, who won silver in Athens and middleweight Angkarn Chomphuphoung, already booking their places in the last four, the onus was on Manus to carry on the momentum and the Ratchaburi native did not let local fans down, putting up a good display against Sahatov Berdymurad of Turkmenistan.

Having undergone an intensive month-long training in Vietnam ahead of the event, the 27-year-old Manus looked sharp and appeared near to his best against Berdymurad.

The home fighter wowed the crowd at the gymnasium of the Dhurakij Pundit University by showing his skill in defence.

Despite Berdymurad being on the front foot, Manus was never really tested, securing an impressive 14-3 victory that his performance warranted.

"I'm very satisfied with my form today. It's much better than my outing in the first round. I would like to give credit to my trainers who helped me back to full fitness with a specified programme," Manus said.

"I'm determined to clinch the qualifying spot. I want to prove to myself that I am still able to fight in the Olympics again. I also want to create another piece of history," Manus said.

Manus, who also won gold at the Doha Asian Games, will next face Tubshinbat Byamba of Mongolia, the opponent he defeated in Qatar in the last four, with a victory enough to clinch a spot in Beijing.

The three Thais will resume their mission in the semi-finals on Friday.

Meanwhile, president of the Amateur Boxing Association of Thailand General Taweep Jantaroj said the Philippines boxers' performance in the event should be seen in the contest of the infamous incident at the SEA Games in Nakhon Ratchasima.

The Filipino boxers courted controversy with their forfeiture of the men's finals against the hosts, citing dissatisfaction with the officiating in the women's section, which saw them claim only one gold medal out of a possible seven.

However, Taweep believes there was an ulterior purpose behind what he described "a dispirited action".

"They have only one fighter remaining while all our three representatives are still in the tournament. There has been no complaint regarding the officials' performance. They might have tried divert the attention from the fact our boxers were better,"

Kitinan Sanguansak

The Nation