Australia has dominated the Beijing Oceania boxing trials in Apia qualifying nine of their boxers for the Olympics in August, while Samoa and Papua New Guinea qualified one boxer each. But for the first time in over two decades, New Zealand failed to qualify a boxer to the Olympics.
Australia dominated the AIBA Oceania Boxing Champs held in Apia last week qualifying nine of their boxers for the Beijing Olympics in August. The Australian team were a class act featuring in all but one of the 11 finals. Samoa and Papua New Guinea each qualified a boxer for Beijing with New Zealand missing out altogether – the first time New Zealand has not qualified a boxer to the Olympics for more than two decades. Samoa has tasted Olympic success in boxing with Kevin Barry winning a silver medal at the 1984 Los Angeles Games and Samoan slugger David Tua announcing his arrival to the world with a bronze medal in Barcelona in 1992.
Nathan McEwen was the only New Zealand fighter to qualify for a final, where he lost 17-3 to Australia's Jarrod Fletcher, while Canterbury hope Yamiko Chinula was eliminated by Commonwealth Games heavyweight champion Bradley Pitt 23-3 in the semi-finals. Top ranked Kiwi fighter Kahukura Bentson lost to a Samoan in his semi.
“In a word, the results were disappointing,” team manager and former national coach, Dr John McKay told the Press. "I think we had a belief that probably two, possibly three, of the boys may have reached the final and/or won gold medals and I would say lack of preparation was the biggest reason why they didn't.”
Samoa's Satupaitea Farani Tavui won gold in the light heavyweight division final, defeating his countryman Vaitele Soi, who stepped down from his usual heavyweight division.
Papua New Guinea light flyweight Jack Willie won his third straight Oceania title to book his ticket to Beijing after outclassing Aussie champ Kyle Freiberg.
The Apia tournament, which doubled as the 2008 Oceania Continental Championships, was the only qualifier for the Oceania region and represents the ninth out of 10 for the entire AIBA Olympic boxing qualifying process.
The Olympic Games in Beijing, China takes place from August 8-24.
The final pre-Olympic tournament, for the Americas, is taking place in Guatemala City.
Russia has 11 boxers qualified for Beijing, while Morocco, China and Kazakhstan have 10 and Cuba nine.
The Beijing tournament includes 11 weight classes and will feature 286 male boxers. Each country can enter only one boxer per class.
The total of Olympic qualified boxers now numbers 261. Two final vacancies will be allocated by the tripartite commission, bringing the total number of Olympic qualified boxers to 286.
AIBA Oceania Olympic Qualification Tournament: Apia, Samoa
Weight in kg Qualified boxers
Light Flyweight Up to 48kg - Jack Willie (PNG)
Flyweight Over 48 to 51kg - Stephen Sutherland (AUS)
Bantamweight Over 51 to 54kg - Luke Boyd (AUS)
Featherweight Over 54 to 57kg - Paul Flemming (AUS)
Lightweight Over 57 to 60kg - Anthony Little (AUS)
Light Welterweight Over 60- 64kg - Todd Kidd (AUS)
Welterweight Over 64 to 69kg - Gerard O'Mahony (AUS)
Middleweight Over 69 to 75kg - Jarrod Fletcher (AUS)
Light Heavyweight Over 75- 81kg - Satupaitea Farani Tavui (SAM)
Heavyweight Over 81 to 91kg - Bradley Pitt (AUS)
Super Heavyweight +91kg - Daniel Beahan (AUS)
