Boxing: Pownceby books trip to Athens Games

The pickings were slim for New Zealand amateur boxers at the Oceania championships in Tonga.

Auckland light heavyweight Soulan Pownceby won New Zealand's solitary gold medal in the men's divisions, which confirmed his berth at the Olympic Games in Athens in August.

The championships ended in Nuku'alofa on Saturday, with Pownceby's points victory over Australian No 1 Ben McEachran giving New Zealand late cause for cheer after a tournament dominated by Australians, who won nine gold medals.

Two New Zealand women - Hamilton middleweight Pono Rang and Auckland welterweight Daniella Smith - also won gold but there was no Olympic Games carrot for women fighters at the event.

The other New Zealander in the ring on Saturday, Wellington featherweight Jamie Gardner, lost his final on points to Australian Ryan Kingham.

One of this country's major hopes, Auckland welterweight Kahukura Bentson, was eliminated in the semifinals on Friday when he lost by one point to Vanuatu's Peter Nauka.

New Zealand's Olympic representation is presently Pownceby, but he may yet be joined by Auckland super heavyweight Angus Shelford.

Shelford left Tonga with a silver medal after he was prevented from contesting the final due to an ear infection. He was ruled out of the bout by a medical panel, which effectively gifted the gold medal to Tongan Doug Hawke.

Hawke, who lives in New Zealand and competes as a professional kickboxer under the name of Doug Viney, has had his eligibility to fight as an amateur boxer challenged by Boxing New Zealand.

Boxing New Zealand chairman Keith Walker expected a decision on the appeal to the Amateur International Boxing Association shortly.

Viney was earlier given permission to continue at the championships after stopping top Australian contender Justin Whitehead in their first round super heavyweight bout.

That was despite several complaints from Walker to the Oceania association, challenging Viney's amateur status.

Oceania rejected Walker's complaints because kickboxing was seen as a different code, even though Boxing New Zealand have no record of Viney registering as an amateur.

He switched codes last week under the guidance of his Tongan kickboxing coach.

Walker said Boxing New Zealand was appealing on two grounds. The first was the question of Viney's amateur status and the second was whether he had fulfilled the five-year residency requirement for a boxer to fight for a country.

- NZPA