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At only 15 years old, Ma Hnin Ei Swe is
one of Myanmar’s best hopes for a boxing gold medal.
Pic: Lwin Maung Maung |
MYANMAR’S top boxers are keeping their punching skills
carefully under wraps ahead of the 24th SEA Games, with five gold-medal
hopefuls skipping a warm-up tournament in host country Thailand.
Myanmar boxing officials held the stars of the 11-strong national
boxing team out of this month’s Pre-SEA Games competition,
which was designed to give competitors a taste of what to expect
at the main event from December 6-15 in Korat.
“We left our top boxers – three men and two women
– here. We don’t want our competitors to see our players’
ability before the SEA Games,” national boxing coach U San
Myint said at the team’s training camp in Yangon.
The five Myanmar men and four women who did compete this month
returned with one gold, four silver and three bronze medals.
The gold came from 50kg heavy hitter Ma Hnin Ei Swe, who at
15 is one of two teenagers set to represent Myanmar in boxing.
Hnin Moet Moet Naing, 16, will box in the 52kg division.
“I won the gold medal at the Pre-SEA Games after beating
Vietnam in the final match and Thailand in the semifinal,”
said Ma Hnin Ei Swe, who started boxing only a year ago and says
she is attracted to the individual, self-reliant nature of the
sport.
U San Myint said the Kayin starlet has a good chance of lifting
gold again next month, as do the five boxers whose ring prowess
remains a closely guarded secret.
“We think three men and three women boxers are in good
enough condition to get gold medals,” said U San Myint,
who is also general secretary of the Myanmar Boxing Federation.
He pointed to Kyu Kyu Thin (46kg) and Naw Mu Chay (48kg) –
both silver medallists at the 2005 SEA Games – as being
the women most likely to strike gold alongside Hnin Ei Swe.
Zaw Myo Min (45kg) and Kyaw Swar Aung (48kg), who also picked
up silvers two years ago in Manila, stand beside Than Htike (54kg)
as the men with the best chance of clinching golds this year,
he said.
Rounding out the national team are men Moe Min (51kg), Yan Naung
Soe (57kg), Soe Yar Zar (60kg) and women Hnin Moet Moet Naing
(52kg) and Chaw Su Aye (54kg)
U San Myint the men’s biggest challenges would come from
Thailand and the Philippines, while the women face tough fights
against Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam.
“Being the host country, Thailand will be the main competitor
for both teams,” U San Myint predicted.
At the 2005 SEA Games, the boxing federation sent seven men
and four women. Both the men and the women won two silver medals
and one bronze.
