Jamaicans Go Down In Qualifiers

Leroy Brown, Gleaner Writer

Sarah Joy Rae, Jamaica's final boxing hope for a place on the nation's Olympic team to London, had her hopes shattered by Irish boxer Ceire Smith on Saturday at the AIBA World Female Boxing Championships, which is being held in China.

Rae, who is based in Switzerland, was defeated on points 12-4.

Rae started her quest last Friday night with a close 7-6 victory over her opponent from Slovania, Mateja Rajteric, and there were high hopes in the Jamaican camp that she would make it past the second round.

However, that was not to be as Smith was aggressive throughout the contest and scored freely.

Jamaica's other entrant in the championships, bantamweight Felice Groves, also lost on Saturday. She had the misfortune of drawing the No. 2 seed in the division, Thi Luu and was no match for Luu who won easily, 25-7.

Meanwhile, in Brazil, the three male boxers who participated in those trials were all knocked out.

Michael Gardener did not make the weight for the welterweight division, middleweight Aljermaine Burton was defeated in the first round of competition and Jonathan Hanson, who won his first bout against Haitian Jean Pierre Augustin, later lost to Osmar Bravo from Nicaragua.