By Aadi Nair
PARIS (Reuters) – French boxer Billal Bennama elicited massive roars from the crowd at the North Paris Arena on Tuesday when he beat American Roscoe Hill in a close encounter, while Australia and Ireland both tasted defeat as Yusuf Chothia and Jennifer Lehane lost.
In the opening flyweight bout of the day, Bennama did well to test his evasive opponent by getting in close and letting fly with quick flurries of punches to claim a 3-2 Round of 16 win.
“My emotions were just huge out there. It’s the first time I have experienced something like that,” Bennama said of the vociferous French support.
“It is a huge motivation for me to carry on in the competition as far as possible to hear the fans again.”
Bennama next meets Cuba’s Alejandro Claro, who eased past Brazil’s Michael Trindade in a unanimous victory.
Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist and twice world champion Huang Hsiao-wen of Taiwan was eliminated by Bulgarian Stanimira Petrova, who advanced to the quarter-finals of the women’s bantamweight division.
The win sees Petrova reach the quarter-finals for the first time in her third appearance at the Olympics.
“Every time I want more and more from my fights and we’re already thinking about the next bout,” Petrova said.
“After losing in Tokyo, I died. I really think I died. I wanted to stop boxing, but I love boxing and I will continue until the end.
“The Olympic medal is my dream. But now I can only think about my next round. Today’s bout is finished.”
Australia and Ireland are two of the largest contingents in the draw, but both nations have experienced more defeats than victories in the first four days of the Olympics.
Before Tuesday, three out of five Irish boxers lost their opening matches, while two out of three Australians were handed an early exit.
That trend continued as Australia’s Chothia lost 4-1 to Spain’s Rafael Lozano in a flyweight bout, before Irish bantamweight Lehane was soundly beaten by Asian Games champion Chang Yuan of China.
Yuan’s compatriot Tuohetaerbieke Tanglatihan, the top seed in the men’s light heavyweight division, lost by unanimous decision to Dominican boxer Cristian Pinales.
(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Paris; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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