Cuban boxers are always strong competitor, but this time they have to leave Beijing without winning any gold medal. Either Cuban boxer made it to the semi final in different categories, but finished winning four silver and four bronze medals in boxing at Beijing Olympic Games 2008. Kazakhstan’s Bakhyt Sarsekbayev defeated Cuba's Carlos Banteaux in the welterweight gold medal match. This has been the first time since 1968, Cuba failed to win a gold medal at Olympic.
The last day of the Games was marked by the Mongolian boxers as Badar-Uugan Enkhbat picked the first ever Olympic gold medal in Boxing for his country. Enkhbat defeated Cuban boxer Yankiel Leon in the bantonweight final. On the same day, another Mongolian Serdamba Purevdorj also won silver in light-flyweight.
China is the top nation from Asia in Olympics. This time there is a more important reason for Chinese players to perform better in Olympics 2008. You know that Beijing is going to host Olympics. So, Chinese boxers are hopeful that they will do well in this tournament.
According to Zhang, China's current strongest rivals still remain from Cuba and Russia. Cuba used to be the big brother in former Olympic boxing matches, though it has lost five world champions in recent years and still has the power to smash most of its opponents.
Russia never worries about lacking world champions or powerful boxers, and its overall strength is almost as strong as the Cubans. Some other foreign teams also improve fast in recent years such as Italy, said Zhang, so Chinese boxers must be serious about every opponent and every match.
China was never considered to be a big power in world boxing. Maybe this time they can change this condition. Let us see if they can do it.
