Sarawut takes bite, Afghan in his stride

Sarawut takes bite, Afghan in his stride

Noey shocks No.1 as Weerapon also wins

Sarawut Sukthet, left, in action against Sultan Mohammad Naeemi of Afghanistan.
Sarawut Sukthet, left, in action against Sultan Mohammad Naeemi of Afghanistan.

Three Thai boxers secured wins to reach the semi-finals of the Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires on Sunday.

The trio are Sarawut Sukthet (men's 52kg), Weerapon Jongjoho (men's 75kg) and Panpatchara Somnuek (women's 57kg).

There are five Thai fighters in Argentina with the other two being Atichai Phoemsap, who will compete in the men's 60kg today, and Porntip Buapa who will begin her campaign in the women's 60kg semi-finals.

Sarawut comfortably beat Sultan Mohammad Naeemi 5-0 after the Afghan suffered two eight counts in the third and final round.

Naeemi was also deducted a point for biting Sarwut's left shoulder in the second round.

"My performance was not so good because I felt nervous. Fortunately, the opponent was not very good and made a lot of mistakes,'' said Sarawut.

"I could not believe that he bit me but this should not affect my next fight. I aim to win a medal and hopefully it's a gold."

Panpatchara Somnuek, right, celebrates her win against Slovakia’s Jessica Triebelova in Buenos Aires.

Asian champion Weerapon defeated Italy's Naichel Millas 4-1.

"He is a southpaw and we thoroughly studied tapes of his fights. He is tall so I tried to punch his body," he said.

Panpatchara upset top seed Jessica Triebelova of Slovakia when the referee stopped the contest in the third and final round.

Panpatchara said she fought according to coach Juan Fontanills' instructions.

"The coach noticed that the opponent often runs out of steam late in a fight and told me to hit her body. The tactics worked as she looked exhausted in the final round," said Panpatchara, nicknamed Noey.

Thailand have won two gold, three silver and one bronze medals at the third Youth Olympics.

The Thais aim to return home from Argentina with three golds and are now pinning their hopes on their boxers.

Meanwhile, North and South Korea will discuss the details for their planned joint bid for the 2032 Olympics later this month to follow up on an ambitious agreement reached between their leaders last month.

The radical concept was included in a joint statement issued after last month's summit between the North's leader Kim Jong-Un and the South's President Moon Jae-In in Pyongyang.

"The South and North agreed to ... discuss the issue of South-North joint hosting of the 2032 Summer Olympics around the end of the month," read a joint statement issued after a high-level meeting yesterday.

No further details were given. 

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