Joshua leads Brit pack into boxing semis

Super heavyweight Anthony Joshua became the fourth British boxer to reach the Olympic boxing semi-finals on Monday and said the hunger for medals in London is driving on the home team.

The 22-year-old Joshua, who only took up boxing four years ago, faces Kazakhstan's Ivan Dychko in Friday's semi-final as he joins middleweight Anthony Ogogo, bantamweight Luke Campbell and flyweight Nicola Adams in the last four.

Welterweight Fred Evans and flyweight Andrew Selby, who both have quarter-finals on Tuesday, plus lightwelter Tom Stalker who fights Wednesday, are also bidding to reach the semi-finals in their divisions.

"I don't want to get too head-over-heels until it's done, it's a tough game in there and anything can happen," said Joshua, after putting China's Zhang Zhilei on the canvas in the second during his 15-11 quarter-final win.

"Everyone is hungry, everyone wants to do well," said Joshua, who is already guaranteed a bronze medal. "I'll be out again to hopefully change that colour to hopefully get a gold medal."

Favourite Magomedrasul Medzhidov, who beat Joshua to the world title in Baku last year, has reached the other semi-final and the Azerbaijani will face Italy's Roberto Cammarelle.

Earlier, Ogogo, who beat world champion Ievgen Khytrov in the previous round, set up a middleweight semi-final against Brazil's Esquiva Falcao after his 15-10 last-eight win over Germany's Stefan Hartel.

In the other middleweight semi on Friday, Uzbekistan's Abbos Atoev faces Japan's Ryota Murata after Atoev's 17-13 victory over India's Vijender Singh, who failed in his bid to claim a second straight Olympic bronze.

Murata is aiming to end his country's 48-year wait for a gold in the ring having become the first Japanese boxer since the 1968 Mexico Olympics to win a medal with a 17-13 win over Turkey's Adem Kilicci.

In the lightweight category, world champion Vasyl Lomachenko, the Ukrainian featherweight gold medal winner at Beijing 2008, booked his semi-final berth with a 14-9 win over Puerto Rico's Felix Sanchez.

In Friday's other semi-final, Lomachenko will fight Cuba's Yasnier Toledo in a rematch of last year's world championships lightweight final after the Cuban's comfortable 19-11 win over Kazakhstan's Gani Zhailauov.

"He's a dangerous rival, with good speed. He's fiery, but I've studied him a lot and I know that I can win," said Toledo.

Rising 20-year-old Lithuanian star Evaldas Petrauskas pulled off the first upset of the night with a 16-14 lightweight win over 2009 world champion Domenico Valentino of Italy.

"My hero is Mike Tyson and I hope one day to be as powerful as he was," said Petrauskas, the 2010 Youth Olympic champion.

"Since I started boxing at seven this has been my dream and I am pretty sure the whole of Lithuania is cheering for me."

With Petrauskas is something of an unknown quantity, his semi-final opponent Han Soon-Chul of South Korea admitted he would have preferred to face Valentino after his 16-13 quarter-final win over Uzbekistan's Fazliddin Gaibnazarov.


 

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