Tajikistan Boxer DQ'd For Biting Kazakh Foe In Light Heavyweight Quarterfinal Bout

Beijing, China (AHN) - Tajikistan's gold medal hopes in the light heavyweight division were dashed Tuesday night when Dzhakhon Kurbanov was disqualified for biting his Kazakhstani foe at the Workers Indoor Arena.

The match was stopped with 17 seconds left in the third round of the quarterfinal bout between Kurbanov and Yerkebulan Shynaliyev.

Kurbanov bit Shynaliyev on the shoulder, prompting the referee to halt the fight. The Tajikistani had earlier drawn the ire of his foe for shoving and holding.

The disqualification came at an unfortunate time for the 22-year-old Kurbanov, who stunned the field with his 11-3 elimination of world champion Abbos Atoev of Uzbekistan in the Round of 32.

The light heavyweight boxer was a relative unknown except for his middleweight victory in the 2005 Asian championships. After upstaging Atoev, he pummeled Croatian Marijo Sivolija 8-1 in the Round of 16.

With Kurbanov out of the running, Shynaliyev next meets Chinese Zhang Xiaoping, who stopped his Algerian foe Abdelhafid Benchabla 12-7. The other semifinal bout pits British Tony Jeffries against Irish Kenneth Egan.