By Satya Rath/Doha

The preliminary rounds are over. The wheat has been separated from the chaff. The best stay to live another day; the second-best head home to rest their tired muscles and limbs, ponder on where they went wrong and prepare to make amends in the future.
Unlike the first three days, there were no big upsets or knockouts on show yesterday, the fourth day of the AIBA World Boxing Championships. The seeds mostly justified their seedings, while there were some surprise winners too.
First up, there was a big disappointment for hosts Qatar as their 81kg light heavy boxer Hakan Murst Nuraydin bowed out of the championships, going down 0-3 to Belarusian fighter Mihail Dauhaliavets. The scoreline notwithstanding, the fight was intense and close, and the 34-year-old Qatari was particularly severe in the third round, landing some accurate right hooks that had his 25-year-old opponent reeling. The Belarusian was good in the counter punches though, and that had a big say in the end.
Nuraydin, of Turkish origin who serves in the Qatar Armed Forces, was positive despite his exit. “I lost to a better fighter today. I gave my best, and I am happy with my effort. I would have loved to go further in the championships, but I am proud to have reached this far, and thank the local fans for cheering their hearts out for me,” the Qatari boxer said.
“I did my best, but it was hard as my opponent had an extra day’s rest. My legs were tired and I had to focus to stay in the three rounds. Right now I’m of course very disappointed, but I thank the Qatar Boxing Federation for giving me this wonderful opportunity of competing in the World Championships at home in front of friends and family,” he added.
Among the other winners on the final day of the preliminary rounds were number one seed Yosbany Veitia of Cuba in the 52kg flyweight division, who was taken the distance by spirited Moroccon Achraf Kharroubi before prevailing in a split 2-1 decision. The Cuban was joined in the flyweight quarters by China’s Jianguan Hu, a 3-0 winner over Uzbek Shakhobidin Zoirov; feisty Colombian Ceiber Avila Segura who dispatched off Venezuela’s Yoel Finol Rivas; and Kazakhstan’s Olzhas Sattibayev, who upset the odds in a 3-0 win over fourth-seeded Daniel Asenov of Bulgaria.
In 60kg lightweight, Cuban top seed Lazaro Alvarez, a two-time world champion bidding for a hat-trick of world titles, looked in great touch as he pulverized Thailand’s Pachanya Longchin 3-0, while Uzbekistan’s Elnur Abduraimov too looked ominous in his decimation of New Zealand’s Chad Milnes.
They were joined in the 60kg round of eight line-up by Ukraine’s Tymur Beliak and Mongolian Otgondalai Dorjnyambuu. While Beliak managed to come out unscathed from feisty Japanese Daisuke Narimatsu, who simply never stopped throwing punches throughout. The win puts an exhausted Beliak on the path of Cuban top seed Alvarez in the quarter-finals, something he surely won’t be happy about.
Defending welterweight world champion Daniyar Yeleussinov of Kazakhstan too made his Doha debut on the day, and looked menacing in decimating European silver medallist Pavel Kastramin of Belarus in what was one of the most anticipated bouts of the day.
“It feels great to win my first bout, but I know that I’ll be facing a far tougher opposition in the coming rounds. I just need to get my head down and work even harder. There’s no other way,” Yeleussinov said after his bout.
He was followed into the 69kg quarters by Cuba’s Roniel Iglesias, who proved too strong for Ukraine’s Yaroslav Samofalov.
After half-empty stands greeted the boxers on the first three days of the competition, the magnificent Ali Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah Arena was packed to the brim yesterday, it being a Friday. Manny Pacquiao may have left Doha but Eumir Marcial was there in the ring, and a majority of them had come to cheer for the Filipino welterweight boxer, who was facing Spain’s Youba Sissokho N’Diaye in a round-of-16 bout.
Marcial, who won the junior world welterweight champion in 2011 at the age of 19, was greeted with a huge roar from the stands and he paid back their effort by advancing to the last-eight with a hard-fought 2-1 points win.
“It was amazing to meet Manny. He said that I should go out there and dominate my opponent so that the judges can see my aggression. I think the bout went well, and I’m thrilled to be through to the quarter-finals. I think I’ll be up against the world No. 1 in the next round, so it’ll be really hard to stay in the competition, but I’ll do my best to get to the final,” Marcial said.
He was joined in the 69kg quarters by Azerbaijan’s fourth-seeded boxer Parviz Baghirov, who saw his Mexican opponent Marvin Cabrera Vergara in the adjacent ring.
It was heart-breaking loss for the lone Syrian in fray, Alaa Ghoussoun, who was clearly unlucky to face Kazakh number one seed Adilbek Niyazymbetov in his 81kg bout. The result was never in doubt, and Ghoussoun went down 0-3, but not before cornering the loudest cheers from the capacity crowd for his brave fight.
Another big clash in the same division saw Ireland’s two-time European champion Joseph Ward, who is also a regular on the AIBA Pro Boxing circuit, go up against youth world champion Oleksandr Khyzhniak of Ukraine. Ward won the light heavyweight class 3-0, with the same scoreline reflecting in Uzbekistan’s Elshod Rasulov’s defeat of Turkey’s Cem Karlidag in the adjacent ring.
In the 91kg super heavyweight division, all the big names justified their top billing. Top seed Ivan Dychko of Kazakhstan was simply too big and too powerful for Brazil’s Rafael Duarte Lima, Jordan’s Hussein Ishaish saw off Georgia’s Mikheil Bakhtidze, fast Uzbek Bakhodir Jalolov managed to evade the big punches of two-time Pan-American Games champion Lenier Pero Justiz while landing all his right and left hooks on spot to sail through, and Germany’s Florian Schulz looked unstoppable against wiry Mexican Edgar Ramirez Vargas.
It was a forgettable day for India as their 91kg boxer Satish Kumar went down to his Turkish opponent Ali Eren Demirezen 0-3 in the last bout of the day to bow out of the championships.
The preliminaries are over. It’s over to the main course now, with the quarterfinal bouts beginning today.