Hasanboy Dusmatov claimed the first boxing gold of the Rio Olympics by winning the men’s light fly on Sunday.
The Uzbek Asian champion beat Colombian Yurberjen Martinez on points for gold in the 46-49kg category.
All three judges scored the fight in Dusmatov’s favour – 29-28, 30-27 and 30-27.
Home favourite Robson Conceicao reached the final of the men’s light (60kg) with a victory over Cuba’s Lazaro Alvarez.
Standing between Conceicao and gold is Frenchman Sofiane Oumiha, who had a points win against Otgondalai Dorjnyambuu on Mongolia.
HIGHLIGHT
Uzbekistan claimed their first gold of the Rio Games thanks to Dusmatov as he proved too strong for Martinez.
QUOTES
“I am very happy to be the first athlete from the Uzbekistan delegation to win a gold medal. I want to devote this medal to the president of Uzbekistan [Islam Karimov],” – a thrilled Dusmatov said after his victory.
“My entire life has been really hard. There were 28 athletes here that were really well prepared but I can tell that I trained even harder than them so it is a time for me to reach for even greater heights and go even further,” – Conceicao eyeing gold in his home nation.
“It felt great knowing that all that hard work finally paid off. I’m very blessed to be here. It’s just a great feeling to bring a medal back home,” – American Nico Hernandez said after winning bronze in the light fly.
WHAT’S NEXT?
The men’s heavy (91kg) champion is decided as Russian Evgeny Tishchenko and Kazakh Vassiliy Levit do battle for gold.