Bahrain's Latypov bows out in boxing

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s Danis Latypov bowed out fighting yesterday in the Super Heavyweight (+91kg) division of Men’s Boxing at the Tokyo Olympic Games. Latypov lost to Azerbaijan’s Mahammad Abdullayev on a 1-3 decision in their weight class’ Round of 32.

The 30-year-old Bahraini hopeful, who was coming out of the blue corner, got just one score of 10 from the five judges in the opening round before being given all 9s in the second. But then Latypov fought back brilliantly in the third and final round, taking four 10s. The bout was scored 29-28, 30-27, 29-28, 28-29, 28-28 by the five judges at the final bell.

The judges in the match were from Algeria, Kazakhstan, Cuba, Peru and Germany. With the result, Abdullayev moved on to the Round of 16 where he will face top-seeded Uzbekistan fighter Bakhodir Jalolov. Despite being unable to advance, Latypov made history at the Tokyo Games, earning qualifying for Bahrain for the first time ever in boxing at any Olympics.

Members of Bahrain’s delegation in Tokyo were on hand to watch Latypov’s fight, including Bahrain Olympic Committee (BOC) vice-president and delegation head His Highness Shaikh Isa bin Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa.

Meeting

Meanwhile, HH Shaikh Isa met yesterday with Kuwait Olympic Committee president Sheikh Fahad Nasser Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah. They were joined by members of both delegations in Tokyo. HH Shaikh Isa and Sheikh Fahad discussed issues of mutual interest, and at the end of their meeting exchanged tokens of appreciation.

HH Shaikh Isa also visited “Team Bahrain” at the Athletes’ Village. There, he spoke with the Kingdom’s competitors in the five sports handball, athletics, swimming, boxing and shooting and praised their efforts in representing Bahrain at the Games. The handball team honoured HH Shaikh Isa by presenting him with a team jersey.