Nguyen Van Duong poses with his 'Olympic ticket' earned at the Asia/Oceania Olympic boxing qualifying tournament in Jordan

Duong won his berth after knocking down Chatchai Decha Butdee of Thailand in the Asia/Oceania Olympic boxing qualifying tournament early March 10 morning (Hanoi time) in Amman, Jordan.

He needed only 47 seconds to floor Southeast Asian Games champion Butdee after series of punches to his head in the quarter-final match of the men’s featherweight (52-57kg) category at Prince Hamzah Hall.

It is his second knock-out result in Jordan. He also sent Australian Charlie Senior home after only 42 seconds in the first-round match.

Apart from a berth in the semi-finals, Duong also secured a slot in the Tokyo Games as per the rules of the event.

It was also sweet revenge for the Vietnamese who lost to Butdee in the SEA Games’ gold medal match last December.

Duong will face Mohammad Abdelaziz Mohamm Alwadi of the hosts in the last-four round. Alwadi earlier won 5-0 over South Korean HaM Sangmyeong. The other semis will see No 1 seed Mirazizbek Mirzakhalilov of Uzbekistan versus Serik Temirzhanov of Kazakhstan.

Duong is the second Vietnamese boxer to compete in the Olympics, following Dang Hieu Hien in the Seoul Games in 1988.

Vietnam also pinned a high hope on Nguyen Manh Cuong in the men’s light heavy (75-81kg) category, who will compete in a match later on March 10.

Cuong was ousted in the quarterfinals on March 8 but he had a chance when he fights Indian Sachin Kumar. The winners of two matches will advance to the final on March 11. The winner will get an Olympic ticket.

Earlier, two Vietnamese female boxers Nguyen Thi Tam and Nguyen Thi Huong, both were seeded No 3 in their classes were eliminated from the tournament.

Before Duong, four Vietnamese Olympic qualifiers are swimmer Nguyen Huy Hoang, gymnast Le Thanh Tung and archers Do Thi Anh Nguyet and Nguyen Hoang Phi Vu./. VNA

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