Lai Chu-en on Thursday won a bronze medal in the light welterweight category at the Asian Elite Boxing Championships in Amman, Jordan, the first medal for a male Taiwanese boxer at the event in 11 years.
Lai on Tuesday last week beat Abdullah Mohammadi of Afghanistan and a day later bested Kyrgyzstan’s Tashiev Zhantoro.
On Sunday he defeated Iran’s Ashkan Rezaei 4-1 in the quarter-finals, but met his match against Uzbekistan’s Abdullaev Ruslan, who is regarded as one of the best in a new generation of boxers in his nation.
Photo: Wu Meng-ju, Taipei Times
Lai, a bronze medalist at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, was caught in a hard fight early on against the Uzbek, who constantly pushed his opponent back to the ropes, even knocking him down once in a countdown.
Despite a counterattack, the Taiwanese failed to break through his opponent’s defenses, ending with a unanimous 5-0 decision against him.
Last year, Abdullaev won the Uzbekistan Elite National Championships at the age of 19, and was awarded the country’s Best Boxer trophy.
Photo: CNA
Despite the loss, Lai picked up a bronze medal, becoming the first Taiwanese male boxer to win a medal at the Asian Boxing Championships in 11 years after Kao Chih-yuan and Yang Yu-ting bagged bronzes in their respective categories at the 2011 event in Incheon, South Korea.
On Wednesday, female boxers Huang Hsiao-wen (bantamweight) and Wu Shih-yi (lightweight), who were among the 10 Taiwanese in Jordan, also won bronze medals in their respective competitions.
The championships, which are organized by the Asian Boxing Confederation, end tomorrow.
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