Beijing - Alexey Tishchenko added a lightweight Olympic gold medal to the featherweight one he won four years ago in Athens when the Russian beat France's Daouda Sow Sunday in a bruising encounter. On a day when six boxing finals were to be decided, Badar-Uugan Enkhbat of Mongolia outclassed his Cuban opponent to take bantamweight gold while China's Zou Shiming claimed victory in the light flyweight division after Serdamba Purevdorj retired injured.
Tishchenko didn't have it all his own way against the taller Sow, but eventually prevailed 11-9 in a keenly contested encounter.
The 24-year-old edged the first two rounds, thanks mainly to his combinations, but Sow fought back in the third, scoring well with his powerful left hand to narrow the deficit to just two points going into the final round.
However, Tishchenko showed all his experience to tie up his opponent in the fourth and take victory.
Enkhbat was never really bothered by Yankiel Leon Alarcon, running out an easy 16-5 winner.
The 2007 world championship silver-medallist landed some solid punches to lead 4-1 at the end of the first round, and while Alarcon shared the second round, the Mongolian extended his lead in the third with some accurate counter-punching.
Holding a seven-point lead going into the final round, Enkhbat continued to pick off his opponent, registering a comfortable victory, which was greeted with delight by the large Mongolian contingent present in the Workers' Gymnasium in Beijing.
Enkhbat's compatriot Purevdorj was less fortunate against Zou, however, as a shoulder injury saw the 2007 Asian champion forced to retire after just nine seconds of the second round to hand victory to the double world champion.
Afterwards, Purevdorj revealed that he had injured his shoulder during Friday's semi-final victory over Pan-American champion Yampier Hernandez of Cuba.
"The injury continued from then so when I was fighting today I felt a lot of pain in my shoulder and I decided not to force myself," he said.
Zou's victory saw China register its first boxing medal of the Beijing Games and the host nation's 50th overall.
"I am very happy because I won the first boxing gold medal for my country," said Zou.
"After a very good preparation I wanted to deliver to the spectators but I did not expect that my opponent would get injured."
Zou wept for joy on receiving his gold, something he didn't do when he won a bronze four years ago in Athens.
"I told myself, when you get gold, you can cry," he said.
