April 5: Asian Games gold medallist Ng Dingko Singh clinched a berth in this year's Sydney Olympic Games by storming into the bantamweight final with yet another power-packed performance but flyweight H Srinivas Rao failed losing his semi-final in the Asian Zone boxing qualifiers, here on Wednesday.The 23-year-old naval officer, who was India's main hope here, expectedly stole the show defeating Iranian Hadi Akbar 10-7 on points in the 54-kg semi-finals of the King's Cup boxing tournament to join three of his compatriots at Sydney.But India's hopes of clinching more Olympic berths were dashed when Srinivas Rao lost to another Iranian Rahim Mohamad in a low scoring bout.Light flyweight S Suresh Singh, Commonwealth Games middleweight silver medallist Jitender Kumar and light heavyweight Gurcharan Singh have already grabbed their tickets for Sydney from the second qualifying tournament held in Taejeon City, South Korea in January.Aware of Dingko's big reputation as a boxer with a lightening right cross, Hadi Akbar planned his bout well and was on the defensive in the first two rounds. But the Indian star came up with superior tactics to open up his defence.Dingko found chinks in Hadi Akbar's defence on two occasions to land his devastating right crosses to take a 2-0 lead by the end of the first round.There was no change in the second round as the Iranian continued to guard himself well without going on the offensive.In a bid to lure his opponent, Dingko lowered his guard and the Iranian fell into the trap and went for attack.Dingko, returning to the venue of his biggest triumph in the 1998 Asian Games, quickly changed his stance and landed two left-right combinations.However, Dingko's efforts to draw his opponent out again failed as Hadi Akbar did not respond to the Manipuri's bait and the round ended 4-0 in favour of the Indian.The Iranian, on instructions of his corner, took to the offensive in the third and fourth rounds but landed two low blows inviting a warning from the referee.As both boxers traded quick punches, it turned out to be a thrilling finish with Dingko capitalising on his earlier lead to win the bout 10-7.In contrast, National champion Srinivas Rao, who reached the semi-finals by trouncing a superior challenger in Choe Phy Ongchol of North Korea, was totally off-colour on Wednesday and lost 5-3 in an unimpressive bout.Light welterweight K Sanjit Singh is the lone Indian remaining in the fray for a qualifying berth.B Ramanand fell in the first round itself while Narender Rana lost in the quarter-finals on Tuesday.
