Kazakhstan grab six boxing gold medals

Kazakhstan’s conveyor belt of amateur boxing talent churned out six men’s champions at the Asian Games, while hosts South Korea took two titles to bring their 12-year barren run to an end in Incheon.

The final day of boxing crowned 10 men’s champions at Seonhak Gymnasium, with South Korean dynamo Shin Jong-hun getting the day off to a great start for the home crowd.

Known as “Sonic Man” for his relentless pace and perpetual motion, Shin scored a unanimous decision over Kazakhstan’s Birzhan Zhakypov in the light flyweight category.

It was South Korea’s first boxing gold since 2002 in Busan after they came away from Guangzhou and Doha without a title.

And there was more gold to come for the hosts in the bantamweight division when Ham Sang-myeong got the nod after a tight battle with China’s Zhang Jiawei.

Kazakhstan’s boxers appear to have had no problem fighting without headgear in Incheon, putting seven men into Friday’s 10 finals and winning six golds.

Elsewhere, Sri Lanka crushed Afghanistan by 68 runs to win the gold medal in the men’s Twenty20 cricket event while Bangladesh, gold medallists four years ago, gained some consolation for their coin toss defeat to Sri Lanka by clinching the bronze with a 27-run victory over Hong Kong in the third-place playoff.

India’s apology

Indian boxer L Sarita Devi has apologised for her petulant display at the Asian Games when she refused to accept her bronze medal.

Sarita issued an unconditional apology on Friday for her “emotional behaviour” at Wednesday’s medal presentation for the women’s lightweight division.

“I regret and apologise. Such an incident will never reoccur in the future,” she wrote in a letter sent to the International Boxing Federation (AIBA).

Sarita was furious after losing her semi-final bout with South Korea’s Park Ji-na on Tuesday, believing she should have been declared the winner.

The following day, she refused to wear the bronze medal when it was presented to her, taking it only in her hand before trying to drape it over Park.

When the presentation was over, Sarina left the medal behind, despite being told by the organisers to take it with her.