Tañamor settles for bronze in world tourney

BANGKOK — Harry Tañamor bowed to China’s Zou Shiming in their light-flyweight semifinal clash and settled for the bronze medal in the World Amateur Championships at the Nimibutr Gymnasium on Friday.

Tañamor, 23, succumbed to the Chinese fighter’s hit-and-run tactics and absorbed a 13-21 decision that ended the hopes of the Filipinos in the annual championships.

The setback came on the heels of Violito Payla’s loss to defending champion Jerome Thomas of France in the quarterfinal as the country’s top bet in the flyweight class was stopped via an RSC-CCL (Referee Stopped Contest-Compulsory Count Limit) decision in the third round.

The 22-year-old Zou, whose previous best result was a silver medal in the 2001 East Asian Games in Japan, easily outpointed Tañamor, the Asian Games runner-up, en route to the victory. He earlier posted the event’s biggest win by beating defending champion Yan Varela Barteleny of Cuba in an earlier round.

Zou, who took up boxing aged 16 when sports authorities in the southern province of Guizou spotted his potential, could not conceal his joy at sealing a final spot for China in their first world championships.

"I am delighted — it is great to be the first Chinese in a world (championship) final," said Zou. "I am confident of doing well in the final."

Amateur boxing was banned on the mainland until 1982 and has only been taken seriously as a sport for the last decade. The Chinese authorities are grooming several boxers ahead of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

Zou will take on Russia’s Sergei Kazakov in the final of the the lightest weight division (under 48g). Kazakov defeated Nouman Karim of Pakistan, the Asian Games flyweight silver medallist, 23-4 in the other semifinal match.